I'm starting to think LEGO is evil • Hacker News Board

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#101

Post by vacri » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:35 PM UTC

This is not new. When I was growing up with lego in the early 80s, there was a line of lego marketed at girls which were sets of lego that you made jewelery with.

Also, what nonsense is this that you won't make anything with the millenium falcon because 1000 pieces is too many? What garbage. How can lego possibly fix the issue that you refuse to make anything else with a set with lots of pieces?

Anyway, lego sets aren't atomic - buy a lego set, play with it, then mix it with your other stuff. You've just waxed lyrical about an ad where you can 'just make stuff', right after refusing to do so with a large set, with no real reason given.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#102

Post by brudgers » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:37 PM UTC

javanix wrote: post #2

Look: I will fully admit that these sets are really, really cool. My son is getting a gigantic Millenium Falcon set from Santa this year (DON’T TELL) and both my wife and I are excited to play with it too. But it’s a model kit. We will put it together once and we will play with it a lot and that will be that. It won’t get remixed, won’t get hacked. Eventually it’ll come apart and be put away and not rebuilt because 1…

It won't get remixed because at $140 from Amazon, the author will impose adult values upon the way in which the child uses it. As he notes, he no longer sees it as a toy but as a model kit...and the use - or rather non-use will reflect his view of it as a collectable rather than a bunch of parts.

In all fairness, I went through some of the same thing before I came to a more sensible position - now everything gets remixed to my child's content. They aren't mine after all.

I played with Legos in the era of the ad, and I was completely blown away the first time I went shopping for Legos with my child. They are just orders of magnitude better due to the massive increases in diversity of pieces and far more thoughtful assembly of sets.

Indeed, I have built far more stuff as an adult than I ever did as a child - and my child has had far more entertainment from Legos than I ever did despite the massive competition from Cable TV and console games as well as far more time spent reading and completing homework.

BTW, the author's complaints about tie ins is a bit ironic given his tradition of buying Advent sets.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#103

Post by billpatrianakos » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:38 PM UTC

Eh, they don't make 'me like they used to, right? I hardly think LEGO is promoting gender stereotypes. The new girl products and what they sell to boys aren't the problem but a symptom of a larger disease. Gender stereotypes are created within cultures and companies like LEGO don't really have an agenda like people would try to have us think. Instead they market what sells. The culture at large has put boys and girls into their respective roles and companies simply ride the trends. If boys were supposed to be in flowers and wear underwear on their heads then they'd make little Lego flower kits that came with little Lego men with underwear as hats. Companies have to look out for their share holders. If gender stereotypes are the norm then that's what they'll sell. If we, as a culture, change those stereotypes the companies will follow. It's great to be able to commend a company for taking the lead on such issues but we can hardly expect it. That change has to come from families first.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#104

Post by EdwardMSmith » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:38 PM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #14

jrockway wrote: post #10

I think the key is to remind you kids that once you've built something according to the instructions and you're bored, it's time to take it apart and build something else. I remember playing with a lot of LEGO kits when I was a kid, and I always did this. It's true that, like coloring books, building from kits discourages creativity. But that's easy to fix with something called parenting. Let the instructions be an i…

Take a look at modern Lego kits - this is no longer really possible. Half of the pieces are now completely custom pieces that will only ever fit in one way. Gone are the Lego kits where just about all the pieces will recycle into your future creations.

Ya know, as a father of a 7yo boy and a 9yo girl who together have put in about 40 hours of lego building in the last week alone, using lego from my childhood as well as a dozen kits purchased in the last 5 years or so, this simply isn't true.

Its not true that the pieces will only ever fit in one way.

The reality, I've come to realize after playing with these things quite a lot recently, is that they're simply 'higher-resolution'.

For instance, I have watched this brick (from a Star Wars ship)

http://cosmicbricks.ecrater.com/p/11804345/lego-dark-bluish-...

become variously, a foot, an ear, a beak, part of a dragon's wing, part of a temple, part of half a dozen spaceships of completely bespoke design, part of some sort of epic death dealing mechanized tank/robot thing, and probably several more models where I didn't even notice it.

Whereas I had to be content with "8-bit" round shapes with my old Lego brick pieces, my children and I are able to produce models with much higher resolution - and that're pretty satisfying.

My kids play with these "model" kits by building them as per the instructions, learning a few new construction techniques in the process, playing with the finished model for a day or two, then tearing them apart and applying any new techniques they discovered into their constantly evolving storyline.

Just like Dad did... does...

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#105

Post by dgabriel » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:39 PM UTC

oz wrote: post #80

" But if they’ve become toys marketed to a single gender, then we’re just reproducing the already awful gender imbalance in STEM education and employment." Why is it we never hear anyone decrying the 'awful gender imbalance' in Human Resources, Nursing and Teaching?

Because you're in technology. There are a number of organizations dedicated to increasing the number of men in nursing and teaching.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#106

Post by harryf » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:39 PM UTC

Side note but the ultimate evil present for parents of small kids is to buy the kid a Playmobil Castle for Christmas - http://www.amazon.com/Lion-Knights-Castle-by-Playmobil/dp/B0...

As a parent that spent over 16 hours assembling one last Christmas then watching it disintegrate again, the "joy" this gift brings cannot be described. A great present if you have a brother or sister with kids you feel compelled to annoy.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#107

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:41 PM UTC

I'm an equal-opportunity lego distributor. Girls as well as Boys get just one kind of toy from me: Lego. Duplo for the urchins, 'regular' for 4 to 8's and technic for the older ones. Never seen a kid turn it down, whatever age or gender. For a lark I gave a bunch of it to some adults, claiming that I'd forgotten their birth dates. They ended up being at least as happy as the kids.

I've never given any 'themed' lego, just the plain stuff, no minifigs or other non constructive bits.

Lego is what made me see the power of building using re-usable blocks, the best possible primer for becoming a programmer that I am aware of outside of maths (and you typically don't start math beyond counting when you're a toddler).

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#108

Post by tikhonj » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:42 PM UTC

oz wrote: post #80

" But if they’ve become toys marketed to a single gender, then we’re just reproducing the already awful gender imbalance in STEM education and employment." Why is it we never hear anyone decrying the 'awful gender imbalance' in Human Resources, Nursing and Teaching?

Because this is "Hacker" news so there is a very strong bias towards science and engineering. I imagine it might be different on a Nursing forum, but I've never seen one so I don't actually know.

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#109

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:43 PM UTC

DarkShikari wrote: post #60

ericabiz wrote: 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…

(By the way, if you ever want a conclusive argument that girls being raised to love pink and hate math is societal The most staggering thing about these assumptions is not merely how they contradict current scientific understanding, but they contradict reality . Pink used to be a boys' color: the idea of pink as "girly" didn't exist 100 years ago. Ironically, this commonly-given-example is itself a fantastic example…

[deleted]

Re: I'm starting to think LEGO is evil

#110

Post by brudgers » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 9:44 PM UTC

amirmc wrote: post #8

javanix wrote: post #2

Look: I will fully admit that these sets are really, really cool. My son is getting a gigantic Millenium Falcon set from Santa this year (DON’T TELL) and both my wife and I are excited to play with it too. But it’s a model kit. We will put it together once and we will play with it a lot and that will be that. It won’t get remixed, won’t get hacked. Eventually it’ll come apart and be put away and not rebuilt because 1…

I've noticed that some of new Lego sets have very specific pieces. Not really the kind you can mix and match between sets as in the 'old days'.

Unique pieces are great for remixing once one stops imposing the idea of sets upon Legos. If they don't all wind up intermingled, an adult is probably in charge.