Female Minifigure Set Cuusoo reaches 10K!

[just2good]

The Female Minifigure Set on Cuusoo reaches 10K! Congrats 'Alatariel'!

I like the project. The structures are cool (loving the dino one) and the idea is understandable. But, I think it's time we need a racial diversity minifigure set. I can't really judge if this will pass review, but I would definitely pick it up if it does.

What do y'all think? Will this pass the review stage?

Edited June 10, 2013 by just2good

[Writers Blocks]

I hope so. I'd definitely pick some of them up.

I agree about the racial diversity as well.

[mysteriouspi]

I'd love to see this pass review, as my collection of female figures is a bit lacking compared to male figures. It definitely has potential to pass review - a strong idea with no licensing issues.

[JopieK]

Direct link to the project

[RoxYourBlox]

Congrats, Alatariel! As the parent of a daughter into Lego, I hope Lego understands that female minifig counts are a deciding factor girls use in choosing which sets to ask their parents to buy. As such, although I support the theme of this project, I think it would be better applied by making the ratio of male:female minifigs 1:1 in non-licensed themes, especially City, Castle, and Creator. (Creator is the best at doing this so far.) Along these lines, Lego also could begin incorporating wheelchairs into City sets without having to wait for that next project to reach 10k.

[just2good]

As such, although I support the theme of this project, I think it would be better applied by making the ratio of male:female minifigs 1:1 in non-licensed themes, especially City, Castle, and Creator. (Creator is the best at doing this so far.)

That's kind of what I think about this project. It kind of seems lazy for LEGO to put this out as the answer to the female/male minifigure ratio problems. I would love to see this set and much more equal figure ratio in sets. See, when it comes to the racial diversity problem, it's hard to put more racially diverse figures out due to licensing issues, so that's when a pack like this would work the best. But some may perceive it as racist.

Also, you mention Creator doing this the best so far, but we've only gotten two female figures (both from this year) in the past three years LEGO has started including minifigures in the Creator theme, out of the ten overall figures (that's not including the modular, while including the Hot-Dog Stand polybag).

Edited June 10, 2013 by just2good

[fred67]

I've always found this discussion to be fascinating; I hope we're allowed to discuss more as long as we're civil about it.

The question I ask is if TLG should be pushing an agenda, or trying to represent reality.

If they're representing reality, then it's no wonder why there's so few female minifigures. Think about the ratios of men to women in construction, the police department, and the fire department... there should still be more, I think, but the ratio of men to women in the fields represented by many LEGO sets is quite high.

That's why I wholeheartedly supported these sets on Cuusoo - they represent women doing a lot of the kinds of jobs that women do. I know I'm being U.S. centric, but there are now more women in college than men in the U.S., they are graduating at higher rates, and they are gaining more of the science and expanding into the technology jobs, as well as being more likely to become managers and executives - what sets can TLG release to represent this that would appeal to the target audience?

If they want to fit it into the types of sets they've done in the past, they need to create conflict - science experiments gone awry, for example. If we can have more conflict free sets, like this series, I'm all for that, too, but it appeals to a different audience than TLG's target.

I love the dinosaur... maybe there should be a whole museum. I see a use for the caveman/woman CMFs.

Edit: to address just2good's comments/question, since there is no license (is that a first for cuusoo?) and nothing about these that is even remotely controversial (IMO), I can't imagine the excuse TLG would come up with to not make them. Not only would girl LEGO fans want these, but mature men and women LEGO fans would want them, too, I think.

As for being racially diverse, the neutral yellow has always been fine with me. If TLG started making non-licensed "fleshie" sets, they would compound the lack-of-female-figures complaint 100-fold, because suddenly people will complain about the lack of black, Asian, white, Latino, south-pacific, Indian, etc., figures. Then it would be "there's not enough <insert race> females" complaints. You're only asking for problems. If they leave fleshies to licensed themes, they are safe because they are representing what was in the movie/show - complaints directed at the movie, not the LEGO.

Edited June 10, 2013 by fred67

[Xcod119]

They could be quite useful when building up city MOCs, although in the future I would like to see some flesh versions

[TheLegoDr]

That is awesome. I heard they had quite the surge towards the end there. So good for them.

I agree that every LEGO city needs more female minifigures. I understand why they don't include a lot since mainly boys play with them and girls play with Friends, but since you can incorporate the two, there are a lot more girls playing with all sets than there used to be. My daughter loves the minidolls and the minifigures, so I'm on board for more female centric figures. If you imagine the world population split down the middle, then I'd at least like to see a trend towards that for future releases. It might never reach that amount, but the more the merrier. I guess that is what helps with the CMF line. And I try to pick up as many as I can from the build a minifigure station at the LEGO store.

I will pick this up for my daughter if it becomes a reality.

[RaincloudDustbin]

I think it's bad that I only own 4 heads with dark skin through no fault of my own. LEGO need to release more racially diverse minifigures and it' the same with the male/females. My minifig collection is 2/3rds male and I have a lot of minifigs. I hope this is the start of LEGO rleasing more sets along the line of these. However, with yellow they could be any ethnicity.

Edited June 10, 2013 by RaincloudDustbin

[BrickG]

That was fast. Lego didn't like how they're not one product so they could pass just because of that.

[Faefrost]

Just one of those might make for an interesting low price point CuuSoo Polybag set?

[Hrw-Amen]

Yes I do find the comment from TLG about opting for one set to be released a bit odd. Surely these are small enough that a set could be made to incorporate three or four of the vignettes without it having a massive price or part count? Concentrating on just one seems a bit mean to me when so many of them are nice concepts.

[antp]

Hence the creator's suggestion of making a set with three vignettes. And I think that the three (s)he selected are indeed the best ones. If there can be only one, the one selected for that is my favourite too, so anyway I'll buy it.

Edited June 11, 2013 by antp

[GregoryBrick]

I've always found this discussion to be fascinating; I hope we're allowed to discuss more as long as we're civil about it.

The question I ask is if TLG should be pushing an agenda, or trying to represent reality.

If they're representing reality, then it's no wonder why there's so few female minifigures. Think about the ratios of men to women in construction, the police department, and the fire department... there should still be more, I think, but the ratio of men to women in the fields represented by many LEGO sets is quite high.

That's why I wholeheartedly supported these sets on Cuusoo - they represent women doing a lot of the kinds of jobs that women do. I know I'm being U.S. centric, but there are now more women in college than men in the U.S., they are graduating at higher rates, and they are gaining more of the science and expanding into the technology jobs, as well as being more likely to become managers and executives - what sets can TLG release to represent this that would appeal to the target audience?

I think the rates for policing are about 10-30% women and the trades are 1-10% women, if my data is correct (it also depends how you define policing and trades, and which country/city you are looking at). Is TLG therefore representing reality? I don't know.

That said, if they wanted to represent reality, they would also have more occupations and roles that women are more likely to be in, like you say. They would also have to have more low-paying, low-prestige jobs, because women are far more likely to be found in those positions.

There is no way for TLG to be 'neutral' - their sets always reflect and influence people's ideas about what kinds of play and what kinds of life are appropriate and desirable. However, I think there is very little to criticize in their sets' political stance at the moment. I would like to see more accessibility incorporated (like http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/19418), and I think the above CUUSOO is a good one.

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

This is pretty cool. The town's could always use some more female lego people. In addition there is some cool ideas with these sets. Makes me want to add to my museum set.