Today on Facebook I came across a shocking post a fellow blogger made, she was commenting on the ludicrous nature of the outrage over the new LEGO Friends line. In case you have not heard gender equality enthusiasts find it offensive because it is so girly and the figures look more like people and less blockish and I find this so INSANE!
My girls have no interest in LEGO they view it as a boy toy and are not interested, they like to play with MEGA Bloks micro BLOKS since they have a pink and purple line with a girl character. This past week at my daughter’s birthday party she received a set of the LEGO Friends and until then I had no idea LEGO had a girl specific line. My girls LOVE this set and I plan on buying then more, so it really shocks me that people are offended by this. They claim LEGO has always been gender neutral which is so not true, all of the themed LEGO sets are based on movies and characters that appeal to boys and yes some girls like those characters too but in general LEGO is boy geared so why is it such a crime to have a girl set.
Another thing that makes me crazy is the statement that these more realistic figures will cause eating disorders? WHAT? Really this is crazy I can think of many other products that are truly detrimental to girls self esteem and the new LEGO Friends line are not among them. So my question to all you moms of girls is what do you think of the new LEGO Friends line? Would you buy it for your kids?
My 4 year old daughter went gaga over the new Legos! We already have a house full of Legos thanks to her big brother, and she had her own pink ones. She loves that one of the new figures shares her name, and she’s fascinated by the new sets. I’ve never seen her get so excited about Legos. She has one of the new sets already.
I can’t wrap my head around the fuss about this. Some girls like “girly” things, since when is that a bad thing? I think some people aren’t happy unless they have something to complain about.
Offended? No. But, disenchanted? Yes. I’m already seeing how marketing towards gender is affecting my four year old daughter. I wish she wasn’t influenced by it. But, if marketing Legos to girls gets them to build creatively and spatially, that can’t be bad.
Not offended here. I am happy. My four year old daughter will love this line of Legos even more than the “boyish” line. Now I can’t wait until they have Nerf girl line of products
Newsflash! Boys and girls like different things sometimes. Girls are attracted to girly things because….they are girls! I have 3 girls and a boy. My boy has plenty of opportunity to play with girly stuff and he almost always chooses cars, trucks, guns, etc. My girls have access to boy stuff. And when they play with it, they always, girlify it. When they pick up the light saber, they almost always choose to be Leah or Amidala. They do not see a lot of commercials.
I’m not offended. At first I was disappointed that they weren’t fully interchangeable like all our other lego people, but I can see how these might be more fun to play with. The old “girl” lego people never really looked like girls…
Not offended, but not impressed. Personally, I think the new LEGO line is straight-up ugly
. As a kid, I played with the original LEGOS all the time. They were standard colors and seemed neutral to me. Now, my girls play with the same ones and seem unaffected by the thought that they would be a “boy toy”. I wish our world didn’t have to drive to so fully towards “hers” and “his”.
How sad, Girls can do anything and so can boys. I feel that because I let my boys play with a doll when they were little that it helped them to be the great Fathers they are today. How sad to have other judge you, Many a woman have been great builders just for being able to see thing as blocks. Tell you Girl Friend just go for it. if people want to be stupid then let them remember you can’t fix stupid
Overall, Legos have been more geared toward boys. This did bother me a bit. It’s challenging to find pink and lavender legos. And lets face it, most girls like pink and purple and hearts and flowers!
My 4yr old had mostly only “boy” toys (cars, trucks, dinosaurs, trains) for years because of her brother who is only 20 months older. But as she got older she just naturally likes the more “girl” things. She loved princesses before she ever had one or even saw a disney princess story.
Personally, I’m thrilled about this new line! Part of does wish the characters were like the other lego mini figures, but these friends characters are actually much cuter.
Shh..I already bought 2 sets for my daughters 5th birthday next month!
I have an 8 yr. old boy and a 4 yr. old girl. This Christmas my daughter wanted a tub of pink legos so she could build right alongside her brother…After Christmas…we were out shopping and saw the new friends line….I thought, it is about time! I say Kudos to the Lego Company! My daughter bought a set of the new line of Legos with a giftcard that she recieved for Christmas and has been so happy to play with the girls in the salon as well as build with her tub of pink legos!!!!
My daughter (9) loves lego’s and k-nex and all my sons blocks and he (7) loves playing with her Barbies and dollhouse lol. My youngest just turned 2 and her favorite toys are cars and anything princess They play together, they play separate. They don’t see anything as a boy or girl geared toy. I think the new line is cute, I’d buy it if my kids asked for it, but I know my son would probably play with it as much as my daughter.
Oh and maybe I should add – although I guess I do tend to buy more girly things for my daughters (hey, I like pink and girly) and more boyish things for my son…. my mom is making (knit) slippers for my kids… my daughter asked for blue and my son asked for pink LOL. So I guess my kids haven’t been affected by toy stereotypes yet
Ugh. This controversy makes me so frustrated. My son plays with the dress-up box and my daughter loves the workbench… but she picks out more toys that are pink, she wants to play with dolls and stuffed toys. I don’t necessarily want my children to grow up genderless like “Sasha”. Have you seen that in the news? At 5 they finally revealed the child’s gender.
My son adores his LEGOS, trucks, and firefighters, etc. My daughter now has the LEGO friends sets and she is so excited. Now she can also build, design and grow up loving her own LEGOS.
Um boys and girls are different! I have both gender children in my home and they are so different it is crazy, just innately. SO what is wrong with creating things that they will like based on this? NOTHING!!! I think these legos are darling.
My daughter loves her Lego Friends and so do my boys. My boys love their regular Lego and so does my daughter. Sure, they maybe could have used a little less pastel when making their Lego Friend creations but their test group probably went so gaga over the awesomeness that they never bothered to tweek it. I did notice some more neutral colors added, like different shades of blue and green. Besides, my kids are going to like the colors that they like, no matter what color their Lego set is.
Instead of looking at the potential negative impacts, we should all look at the positive influence. Olivia has an awesome tree house and workshop. Andrea is a musician. They take care of animals and run their own businesses.
I wonder how many of those complaining about skinny girl Legos have bought their boys Lego sets that contain guns and swords. They sure aren’t afraid that their sons will become gun and sword-toting fighters.