Live data from Hacker News

I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

sinker.tumblr.com

31–40 of 289 posts

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#31
The top items on my daughter's (she's 9) Christmas list this year are the LEGO Space Center and LEGO Space Shuttle, both from the City collection. Other items on the list included some of the Alien Conquest sets.

The kid's got a ton of LEGO. The last thing she needs is more LEGO, but it's hands-down her favorite toy. She builds the sets and will play with/admire them for a while, then eventually all of the pieces get dumped into the Giant Bucket of LEGO, which is a huge 30gal bucket overflowing with bricks from sets we've bought her, and from my childhood and my husband's childhood (though oddly lacking in wheels). That's the beauty of LEGO and that huge mish-mash of a dozen sets works for any gender.

Maybe it's the fact that I already have a geek child who's into geek things (She's also getting a D&D red box this Christmas, per her request), but the marketing doesn't seem to have any effect on her. She just sees sets that she thinks looks cool and wants to buy them. I don't think that list would include veterinary clinics and pet spas from this new pinkification effort, either.... but even if it does, so what? You still end up with a bucket of mixed pieces for hours of endless, free-form creativity and building.

I do think that there are more sets available these days that are targeted toward boys, but I don't know that it's come at the expense of other options. You can still buy basic brick sets. There are still several items in the City series that aren't "cops and robbers" and things like the Mars Mission and Pharaoh's sets, or even the Harry Potter sets are no more boy-centric than the old LEGO space stuff used to be.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#32

I'm having trouble understanding the backlash against the new Lego for girls initiative. As the father of a couple of pre-school girls, I'm loving the new initiative. It appears to consist of 3 things: - realistic looking minifigs. Not square and not oversexed. - additional brick colors, and not just pink. - sets not based on movie tie-ins, but in real-world locations like an inventor's workshop, a café, an animal ho…

But why would you want two different products? It sounds like you like the "girl" lego much better than the "boy" version. Why not make it accessible to all kids?

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#33

Does LEGO have some sort of patent on "legos"? In other words are other companies allowed to build similar kits?

Not anymore:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/lego-loses-t...

It used to be no one could manufacture bricks that were compatible with real legos, but now, apparently, you can.

So if Lego insists on creating only crap merchandise prefab kits (like they have for at least the last ten years or so), someone else can step up and produce something a little more, well, Lego-y.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#34

The BrikCrate has changed how my kids approach Lego. It was completely "build the set, forget about it" prior to installing it. Now they build like crazy in free form. http://www.brikcrate.com/ Our daughter enjoys building too.

We just have three enormous rubbermaid bins with lids. Half the fun is searching for the right piece, and possibly finding an old lollypop stuck to it. The sound of kid hands pawing through a vat of legos is awesome.

It's true, one person's "half the fun" is another's "most of the suck"

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#35
post #7
post #3

As a girl geek who grew up on Legos, this makes me really, really sad. From the NPR article linked to from the article above: "Lego also consciously aimed for boy customers when it embarked on its stunning turnaround. Boys were easier to sell to than girls." headsmash "The new Lego girl minifigures have names like Stephanie, Olivia, and Emma, and the building sets include a veterinary clinic, a hairdressing salon, a…

> We need more women scientists Are you a scientist?

Nope, I'm not. I basically really suck at school, and am pretty awesome at computers and making money. That's why I started a startup at age 20 instead of finishing college, then sold it for a nice profit when I was 26. Now I'm on to another startup, and run a popular blog to boot.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#36

Does LEGO have some sort of patent on "legos"? In other words are other companies allowed to build similar kits?

I'm pretty sure they have design patents that prevent other companies from building bricks that are an exact copy. But design patents, as shown from Apple vs. Samsung, are a positively grey area. It's not clear if "compatible" parts would be allowed, for example.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#37
While I vastly prefer the open-ended building blocks to the themed sets, I did like the semi-generic Lego space theme as a child. Also very cool were Tente, a Spanish space themed building kit series... they were very futurist and stylish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tente_(Toys)

The more open ended toys clearly have an advantage in terms of creativity, and most children have creativity to spare.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#38
post #32

I'm having trouble understanding the backlash against the new Lego for girls initiative. As the father of a couple of pre-school girls, I'm loving the new initiative. It appears to consist of 3 things: - realistic looking minifigs. Not square and not oversexed. - additional brick colors, and not just pink. - sets not based on movie tie-ins, but in real-world locations like an inventor's workshop, a café, an animal ho…

But why would you want two different products? It sounds like you like the "girl" lego much better than the "boy" version. Why not make it accessible to all kids?

This new set does seem to be relatively accessible to all kids. Perhaps not on it's own, but certainly as a mix-in with other sets.

For instance, on it's own you'd probably guess that the power drill and robot came from a boy's set rather than a girl's set.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#39
It's simple - universal construction kits don't do well in commercials targeted at children.

The very ad he's mentioning targets parents not children. Marketing for toys used to be targeted at parents.

But not anymore - there are cartoon TV stations airing all day, filled with commercials for shitty toys. Then the child sees these toys in stores and starts crying. Parent gives up and buys them. End of story.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#40

I was also dismayed by their focus on movie tie-ins and set-specific pieces, but I really like the LEGO landmark/architecture series: http://architecture.lego.com/en-us/products/ They're built with pretty much all standard pieces (though not necessarily standard colors).

Christmas present score! Now I have a Christmas present idea for my wife to compliment the far-too-functional present already got her!
Post reply on HN