Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[MAB]

21 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

LEGO is a great business opportunity, not only the buying and selling of actual LEGO branded stuff but you can also make a ton of money making videos and instructions for MOCs.

A more unpopular opinion is that you can make a ton of money selling instructions for other people's MOCs!

[The Island Chronicles]

39 minutes ago, MAB said:

A more unpopular opinion is that you can make a ton of money selling instructions for other people's MOCs!

Yeah! And fanfiction too. That also makes money depending on how you do it. 

[Ondra]

I just recently found about Eiffel tower, albeit interested for me its in case of probably interesting set to buy If I had spare house and robbing a bank.

Lego is trying to push limits, but all with these crazy big sets, Im asking myself what are purpose of these sets? There is not just alone set in this scale range and they are pushing few for year. These sets are just for show without any other purpose...

I totally miss days, where pinacle of lego year was just one decent sized creator set that goes at least for four years in 250 euro range.

For sure there is somebody, that buy this behemoth and said that few smaller sets offer better fun of building than repetitive massive sets.

[Ondra]

Seriously stop cancelling things around twitter drama, looking at these sets and full theme parks Im just thinking thal vocal minority doesnt reflect reality. Just dont buy these sets and dont spoil this for anybody else, I deeply admire work of Rowling in my opinion she just express heir own opinion and thats seems to be problem in this cancel era. I see some folks have really big problem to accept others opinion, they are clearly unmature in my view. If I dont like things I just dont buy it, watch it, read it its simple as that.

Im proud of Harry Potter books that I have. They give me some best free time in my life... I cannot say same things about social medias, they give me worst experiences ever...

Edited March 28, 2022 by Ondra

[williejm]

9 minutes ago, Ondra said:

I deeply admire work of Rowling in my opinion he just express her own opinion and thats seems to be problem in this cancel era. 

Just for future reference, She is not very keen on being misgendered. 

[Ondra]

1 minute ago, williejm said:

Just for future reference, She is not very keen on being misgendered. 

I made mistake ok, I had no buzzword in mind..

[Johnny1360]

2 hours ago, Ondra said:

Seriously stop cancelling things around twitter drama, looking at these sets and full theme parks Im just thinking thal vocal minority doesnt reflect reality. Just dont buy these sets and dont spoil this for anybody else, I deeply admire work of Rowling in my opinion she just express heir own opinion and thats seems to be problem in this cancel era. I see some folks have really big problem to accept others opinion, they are clearly unmature in my view. If I dont like things I just dont buy it, watch it, read it its simple as that.

Im proud of Harry Potter books that I have. They give me some best free time in my life... I cannot say same things about social medias, they give me worst experiences ever...

Oddly this is part of my basic life philosophy, well put.

[The Island Chronicles]

3 hours ago, Ondra said:

Seriously stop cancelling things around twitter drama, looking at these sets and full theme parks Im just thinking thal vocal minority doesnt reflect reality. Just dont buy these sets and dont spoil this for anybody else, I deeply admire work of Rowling in my opinion she just express heir own opinion and thats seems to be problem in this cancel era. I see some folks have really big problem to accept others opinion, they are clearly unmature in my view. If I dont like things I just dont buy it, watch it, read it its simple as that.

Im proud of Harry Potter books that I have. They give me some best free time in my life... I cannot say same things about social medias, they give me worst experiences ever...

Wow! Now this I can agree with.

[Johnny1360]

I like to slam TLG for changing things or deviating from the norm, especially if it involves bringing in more customers. Then in a couple of months I like to praise them for doing it.

[Alexandrina]

4 hours ago, Ondra said:

in my opinion she just express heir own opinion

Unfortunately, that's not what she's doing. What she's doing is using her sizable platform to give voice to extremists, while decrying any attempt by anybody to voice an opposing opinion. Unlike some, I'm not personally against continuing to consume the media (I haven't read the books for many years, but that's because I've been reading other things, not because of a boycott) but the situation really isn't as simple as "don't read it" and everything's dandy - Herself is part of a cabal that is having genuine, tangible negative impacts on my life and the lives of others like me, and that wouldn't disappear if I simply chose not to read the Harry Potter books any longer.

In any case, it's not as if Lego don't have precedent for severing ties with those who espouse hateful views. Once upon a time, there used to be Lego promotions in the Sun and the Daily Mail - every day, go to WHSmith or Toys 'R' Us with the coupon and get the polybag of the day. I actually remember badgering my mum to buy the Sun every day and take a trip to Smiths especially to get the sets, as I was emerging from my first Dark Age. But the Sun and the Daily Mail frequently espouse problematic views. Concerns were raised, and Lego severed ties with the papers. Promotions in the Sun don't exist any more, for Lego. That's not 'cancel culture' or any other buzzword - it's Lego deciding that another organisation is not compatible with their ethos as a company, and choosing not to deal with them. I also don't remember much uproar when they stopped affiliating with those papers, barring a small irate fringe. Partly this was probably because it happened in a less-polarised time, pre-2016, but it was also partly because xenophobia and homophobia have reached the point where most decent people are explicitly of the opinion that they are wrong. It was an easier sell to the public that those papers were problematic.

When it comes to Herself, we're dealing with a much more niche issue. For better or worse (definitely for worse!) trans people were not in the public eye so much ten years ago - let alone twenty or thirty or forty years ago. Generally speaking, people don't harbour hate towards trans people but also have little experience of trans people. I've had a wonderful time with people in my own life accepting me as who I am - even people who you wouldn't expect (think: dyed-in-the-wool Conservative members). In most cases, even among the most supportive friends, there's a huge degree of ignorance regarding the actual realities of being trans. What this means is that right now, most people aren't voicing their views. The few who are are the loud minority, and in the UK they take the form of an anti-trans contingent which Herself is at the forefront of. She's amplified by the right-wing press here too - everything she says is echoed verbatim by the Mail, the Times and the Telegraph, and anyone who dares to voice disagreement is mocked by the same papers (if they have a platform of their own; more often, said papers act like dissenting views do not exist). But times will, inevitably, change. As more people actually come to know a trans person in their life, they realise that the scary boogeymen Herself goes on about do not exist* (*NB: I'm not interested in being linked to fringe cases where one individual does something bad; trans people are not a monolith, you know what I mean, and focusing on one individual case to discredit an entire population is a dishonest way of talking)

The short of it is that, at some point in the coming years, Herself's views will be seen for what they are. It's a bad look for Lego to be associated with her, so perhaps it's in their interests as a company to distance themselves - not because of what she says (even though what she says is wrong) but because of how the public might perceive them if they remain linked to her.

There's a corollary point, though: this is all opinions. Nobody here is demanding that Lego stop producing Harry Potter sets; it's just some people saying they would personally prefer it if Lego stopped the sets, and others decrying it as cancel culture - and that's both dishonest and a reflection of why this whole thing is an issue in the first place. There will always be people wanting a certain theme to end, for whatever reason. Maybe because they feel it's getting in the way of their own preferred themes being made. If I said that I wanted Lego to stop making Ninjago, or Marvel, or Friends sets, I'm sure I'd get a barrage of replies arguing the merits of those sets. Certainly some people would point out that I could just not buy those sets. I could respond with reasons for this: "I want Ninjago to end so there's room for a new action theme in Lego's portfolio" or "I think the licensing budget spent on Marvel could be better spent on such-and-such licence" or "I'd rather they stop doing Friends and pivot to a minifigure-based theme with the same ethos a la Paradisa". And so the discussion would go - just one individual expressing an unpopular opinion, and people riffing off that. I could even say that I would like to see Lego stop producing Harry Potter sets because I'd rather they spend the licensing money on The Wheel of Time, or because I'd rather see a conventional Castle theme and I feel like Harry Potter is in the way of that - and it would be it. So why is it that if someone expresses this exact view - for reasons related to their own life experience, or the experience of someone close to them - then 'cancel culture' gets brought up?

It's not cancel culture. It's people not wanting a certain theme to continue, and expressing that view in the specific thread for doing so.

[MAB]

6 hours ago, Ondra said:

Lego is trying to push limits, but all with these crazy big sets, Im asking myself what are purpose of these sets? There is not just alone set in this scale range and they are pushing few for year. These sets are just for show without any other purpose...

Yes, they are for show when finished but they are also for building. Some sets make great display pieces, great conversation pieces (wow, you can do that with lego!) and also inspire people to build something similar. I'm glad they exist even if I don't buy them all, just ones I like. It is not like if they didn't make them they'd bring back a long dead theme instead. Their existence does no harm.

[Ondra]

I see no reason for fleshies in duplo sets. When they keep yellow figures in city sets I do not see reason for fleshies in duplo.

I already heard that some dont buy sets, because these sets do not corespond with colour of skin in my country. For them these sets are artificial and western countries oriented.

[Alexandrina]

22 minutes ago, Ondra said:

I see no reason for fleshies in duplo sets. When they keep yellow figures in city sets I do not see reason for fleshies in duplo.

I already heard that some dont buy sets, because these sets do not corespond with colour of skin in my country. For them these sets are artificial and western countries oriented.

Fleshies in Duplo predate them in System, don't they? I have a catalogue from 1994 with fleshie Duplo figures in it.

Come to think of it, has Duplo ever had yellow heads?

[Lira_Bricks]

51 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Come to think of it, has Duplo ever had yellow heads?

If you count these:

[Ondra]

59 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Fleshies in Duplo predate them in System, don't they? I have a catalogue from 1994 with fleshie Duplo figures in it.

Come to think of it, has Duplo ever had yellow heads?

My bad they were never yellow, they had just skin tone. I dont know why I count these as yellow, maybe because they were generic as city figures.

I just check my duplo figures from early 90s

Edited March 29, 2022 by Ondra

[Ondra]

I think lego needs to reevaluate licensing partnership with disney like they did with blizzard for controversy surrounding this company recently.

For me is disney evil corporate company that prey on childrens and their free minds and they have no room in my life anymore...

Sad things, lego catalog is actually full of disney IP and there goes hefty amount of money.

They get rid of blizzard, because it didnt have any impact.

One corporate supporting another, its true but is sad...

 

 

[Aanchir]

Yeah, Duplo has included fleshie skin tones since the early 80s, and racially diverse skin tones and hair types since the mid-90s. The latter first showed up in the LEGO Dacta (precursor to LEGO Education) set 9171 World People — which also included figures with curly, afro-textured hair, 15 years before the first afro-textured hairstyle for System minifigures (the afro from the CMF Clown and Disco Dude).

11 minutes ago, Ondra said:

I think lego needs to reevaluate licensing partnership with disney like they did with blizzard for controversy surrounding this company recently.

For me is disney evil corporate company that prey on childrens and their free minds and they have no room in my life anymore...

"Evil corporate company that prey on childrens and their free minds"? What are you even talking about?

Like most huge corporations, Disney definitely engages in a LOT of shady and monopolistic business practices that I don't approve of, but I wouldn't describe any of those as "preying on children and their free minds". Their worst offenses that I'm aware of tend to be stuff like like buying out rival entertainment companies to stifle competition, funding political campaigns in exchange for tax breaks or looser business regulations, obstructing attempts by filmmakers and showrunners to introduce LGBTQ+ characters and narratives, etc. While there were numerous instances of workplace sexism and sexual misconduct at Pixar under John Lasseter's leadership, Disney ousted him a few years ago, and has since made an effort to prevent that sort of toxic workplace culture from flourishing.

I don't see any reason that the minds of children who watch Disney movies or TV shows would be any less "free" than those who watch Warner Bros or Paramount movies and shows. And with regard to LEGO, I don't think any of the specific Disney IPs that they license are any more harmful or any less "kid-friendly" than the IPs they license from other companies.

[williejm]

1 hour ago, Ondra said:

I think lego needs to reevaluate licensing partnership with disney like they did with blizzard for controversy surrounding this company recently.

For me is disney evil corporate company that prey on childrens and their free minds and they have no room in my life anymore...

Hmm. An odd take given your defence of the HP licence - unless of course you mean the recent furore over Disney stifling LGBTQ+ representation? 

[Alexandrina]

Just now, williejm said:

the recent furore over Disney stifling LGBTQ+ representation? 

When was this? I know there was controversy over them removing the kiss from the end of Star Wars 9 for the China release, but that was a few years back now and so minor I thought it sure to blow over

[williejm]

6 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

When was this? I know there was controversy over them removing the kiss from the end of Star Wars 9 for the China release, but that was a few years back now and so minor I thought it sure to blow over

They had a staff walkout after a letter from LGBTQ+ staff complaining about Disney taking out gay representation, in the face of them also not standing up on this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60714063

[Ondra]

44 minutes ago, williejm said:

Hmm. An odd take given your defence of the HP licence - unless of course you mean the recent furore over Disney stifling LGBTQ+ representation? 

You are weird, seriously can you do anything towards me without overthinking some aspects with lgbt in minds? Is this some obsession to make me homophobic by proxy? 

 

Im talking about some kept secrets about child grooming...

[Karalora]

20 minutes ago, Ondra said:

Im talking about some kept secrets about child grooming...

I think I speak for everyone here when I say: Literally what are you talking about?

[evancelt]

19 minutes ago, Karalora said:

I think I speak for everyone here when I say: Literally what are you talking about?

 

[williejm]

42 minutes ago, Ondra said:

You are weird, seriously can you do anything towards me without overthinking some aspects with lgbt in minds? Is this some obsession to make me homophobic by proxy? 

 

Im talking about some kept secrets about child grooming...

Yeah, cos this makes *me* weird? lol 

[Ondra]

11 minutes ago, williejm said:

Yeah, cos this makes *me* weird? lol 

No you are weird, because you are constantly bullying me over anything I wrote making false statements over things I wrote. Can you understand this? People can be weird for various reasons, ok?

 

Im fan of free speech and admire Rowling work, now Im thanks to this Im homophobic in your eyes. Dude grow up, its like Im constantly bumping into cult follower.