Karalora

You can't reasonably expect people not to project the world around them onto an imaginary world that replicates it in a simplified fashion. In the real world, people have different skin colors, which often accompany different hair colors and textures, and if minifigs lack the former but display the latter, people are going to make the association anyway. Is that really a problem? Again, I'm not sure we actually disagree regarding what TLG should do with their minifigs. We might have different reasoning, but we come to the same conclusion: Yellow is fine for non-licensed minifigs, and people can use hair to illustrate diversity.

Yes, I've been assuming that the fact that the Lando minifig was meant to evoke a specific real person (Billy Dee Williams) was the impetus behind the change. Because there was a specific (black) image that they realized didn't seem to fit the design principles they had been using. You are correct that they didn't represent particular people. They represented generic people, and since the designers were white Europeans, "generic" to them would mean white. They likely wouldn't even be consciously aware of it, it's just how the default principle works. If you look at some of the older themes, like Western and Adventurers, minifigs that definitely represent people of color are given specific features that make them stand out from the "normal" minifigs, who therefore presumably do not represent people of color. A traditional minifig has dot eyes, maybe with a little highlight. The natives in Western have fully drawn eyes with outlines and pupils. Jing Lee in Orient Expedition has almond-shaped eyes. They are marked to show that they are not the norm. But then what is the norm? Well, who are usually the heroes of Westerns and pulp adventure novels? I hope you see my point. In any case, it is an unalloyed good that TLG doesn't do that anymore. My go-to examples are from the CMF line--the Sumo Wrestler, Kimono Girl, Tribal Chief, Island Warrior, etc. are probably not white people in tasteless Halloween costumes. I think we're meant to assume they are bona-fide representatives of their apparent cultures. But they have the same style of features--the dot eyes, noseless faces, etc.--as other CMFs that are almost certainly Caucasian, like the Hollywood Starlet and Judge.

The fact that they started producing brown heads specifically to represent a known black character (or actor, I suppose) suggests that no one had ever thought, in the ~20 years of minifig history leading up to that point, that minifigs might be standing in for black people. Otherwise, either flesh-toned minifig parts would predate the Lando figure, or Lando himself would have been left yellow because the question would have already been settled. This doesn't mean that yellow can't be neutral--I would argue that it is, given the variety of characters from different nations and cultures all represented in yellow in, for example, the CMF line--but maybe it has to earn that status and isn't quite there yet. I think it is, or should be, but...well, I'm white and I'm not going to tell POC that they have to take what they get if they don't see themselves in yellow. Coming at the question from a completely different angle, I do like having an instant visual distinction between licensed and in-house themes. There's a difference between "This face could be anyone" and "This face could be anyone, if you really want it to...but it's supposed to be someone specific" and I like being able to tell that difference at a glance.

This is a really good point, and the fact that they invented fleshies in order to portray Lando Calrissian kind of goes to show that the yellow wasn't originally race-neutral--otherwise, the question "Can yellow minifigs be black people?" would have been asked and answered before then.

I don't think we actually disagree. Any minifig could represent a person of any race, as the heads are race-neutral and people dye and style their hair all sorts of ways regardless of what nature gives them, yes? The important thing is to have enough variety in the hair that people can recreate a specific appearance (including their own/their family's) without having to settle for something they don't relate to.

It seems to me that you're trying to pick a fight with me, and I'm not going to take the bait.

I was being wry about the types of criticism that get the most negative response. People tend to be pretty cool if you stick to technical criticism, even if they disagree. But say something like "How come the only women in this set are damsels in distress?" and they come down on you like...like a...oh my goodness...this is perfect... ...like a ton of bricks.

That's an exaggeration. We're "allowed" to criticize all we want on technical aspects like piece count, print quality, similarity to other sets that came out last year, and so on. We just can't bring (horrified whisper) politics into it. (And the definition of what counts as "politics" tends to be a bit lopsided.)

And that's fine; I take no issue with anyone who does that (unless they have some kind of knee-jerk aversion to the notion of black people having fun, in which case I advise therapy). I'm just fairly confident that TLG is intentionally representing hair that black people can easily recognize as belonging to themselves, and I think it's a good idea. Representation matters. Nice try, kid. Perceiving race where it is being telegraphed, is not in itself racist. We potentially have a "best of both worlds" situation going on, where the faces are race-neutral and can represent anyone, but the hair can get much more specific, which lets people determine for themselves how deep they want to drill on this particular issue. As for the Cho Chang minifig, in comparison with the actress, the light nougat should have worked just fine. Did they confuse her for the Patil twins?

Two weeks ago, even that much would have been completely out of the realm of possibility. Never say never. I don't want to turn this thread nasty, so I'll leave it at that.

Backing off of promoting Police sets for the time being is probably a good move, to avoid association with horrible current events. I doubt they will be discontinued entirely, though I wouldn't be sad if they were--those "cops 'n' robbers" scenarios are so same-y, year after year. Where are the grinning villains in striped shirts hiding this time and which natural hazards will figure in the play functions? I guess it will depend on what happens out here in the real world. If enough cities disband or heavily scale back their police departments like some are seriously considering/planning, LEGO Police will no longer seem true-to-life as a concept. Hang on...my Sarkeesian Mindlink Chip is buzzing. My mistress has an assignment for me! What's that, Empress Anita...break into the nearest LEGO Store and destroy all Police merchandise? Your wish is my command, O Queen! (Seriously...she's STILL the boogiewoman of choice?)

Count me as another one for keeping the human minifigs of in-house themes uniformly yellow-skinned and using, if anything, hair and clothing to represent specific physical features and cultural markers. While it is true that people tend to interpret a neutral face as whatever they consider the "default," LEGO is a worldwide brand and that default is going to vary between nations, meaning that the identity of a given minifig can change depending on who's playing with it. That's much less possible for the licensed figures with realistic skin tones. That said, sentiments like-- --are neither helpful nor compassionate. Everyone has the right to interrogate things they encounter in the world, including toys, from any standpoint that they find relevant. The fact that licensed minifigs use naturalistic skin tones proves that TLG is aware of race, and if that causes someone to wonder if that awareness affects how they manufacture yellow minifigs, I don't think it's a pointless question. The People Pack figures highlighted by @TeriXeri are obviously intended to represent a black family--why else give all three of them that highly textured black hair? Some people might question whether specific representation like that undermines the notion that any minifig can be anyone, and that's probably a conversation worth having...but I think the potential problem is mitigated by the fact that parts can be freely swapped between minifigs.

Care to elaborate on why you think this?

I was using "chaser" to mean any minifig that is popular/in high demand. Think the Spartan, the Elf, etc. Was that an incorrect usage?

I was assuming the policy could only apply in the LEGO Store itself. It would be better than nothing and better in the current situation.

Rumpled bags (and disease transmission) aren't the only problem, of course. With any sort of identification, you would still get people showing up as soon as the new ones are stocked and snapping up all the chaser figs. Any ability to see what the package contains would have to be accompanied by some kind of purchase limit.

I tend to agree with you. There's a reason both of my suggestions have been themes with precedent rather than entirely new ones.

This is my take as well. The fact is that right now, real-life scenes involving police, urban fires, and the White House are not happy scenes. The cops are not acting like good guys, the fires are likely to be vandalism, and the less said about the White House, the better. TLG isn't saying "All cops are bad," they're saying "Right now, cops look pretty bad, and we don't want our City tarred with the same brush."

ATLA sets we deserve: For starters, updated versions of the Air Temple and Fire Nation ship, with more sophisticated designs Appa as a brick-built creature, complete with removable saddle Kyoshi statue with Suki minifig (+ maybe another Kyoshi Warrior if the set size warrants it--great for army building!) Siege of the North--a nice BIG set with ice structures, waterbender minifigs, and the Spirit Oasis with Princess Yue and the two fish Earth Rumble Arena--a wrestling-style ring with fun pop-up earth effects and minifigs of Toph and other fighters The Spirit Library with that awesome astronomical calendar and a brick-built owl Spirit with an extendable neck The Drill, adding figures of Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee to the collection And I'm only up to Season 2! I could honestly keep going for ages--nearly every episode of the series suggests potential sets with models, creatures, and play functions. The big cast and frequent costume changes could fill at least a couple of CMF waves.

I want Avatar: the Last Airbender to make a LEGO comeback. Not only did it get only two sets the first time around, but it didn't seem like much effort was put into the concepts and designs. (They gave the Katara minifig a standard ponytail, for crying out loud.) The show was recently put on Netflix in its entirety and is undergoing an entirely deserved revival. This thing has aged like a high-quality burgundy, and with all the advancements in LEGO in the last 15 years, I would love to see what they do with it now.

The new food thread has me thinking... Apples in yellow, lime, and/or dark red, maybe marbled colors to reflect varieties like the Fuji, Braeburn, and Honeycrisp Cherries in white. Why? Mistletoe berries for Christmas MOCs! Bananas in lime (not ripe yet) and dark brown (time to make banana bread) Eggs in more colors and with Easter egg pattern prints

Your mileage may vary as to whether blind packaging constitutes an ethical business model, but I've always wished LEGO would use boxes instead of bags. To an extent, I enjoy the surprise factor of picking up a few and seeing what I get. You know what I don't enjoy? Going to the LEGO Store or a Target endcap display and seeing a bunch of crumpled, picked-over bags from people spending hours manhandling them to find the telltale parts of the figures they're after. I don't enjoy knowing that I'm almost certainly not going to get the figure I wanted because it's a popular one and other people have gotten there before me and bought them all up after scouring every bag. And all that was true before the world became a viral pit trap.

Okay, but I NEED this...

Disney theme parks. We have two sets already--the Disney Castle and Disney Train--but they have been treated more-or-less as standalones. I'd like to see the concept take off as a full-fledged theme with sets at all different price points. There are so many iconic structures and vehicles in the parks, and it would be a good excuse to keep the Disney CMF line going in the process. I want a Haunted Mansion. I want a Jungle Cruise boat. I want a Mad Tea Party with Technic functions so the cups all spin when I turn a crank. I want minifigs in mouse ear beanies!

Here are some concepts they haven't used yet: Candy shop Coffee shop Music shop Hotel Santa meet-and-greet Parade with floats and marching band