Offensive stereotypes

[Shine]

On a related topic, anyone remember this? It used to be here, but was removed after I filed a complaint^{(was bored)}.

[SWMAN]

On a related topic, anyone remember this? It used to be here, but was removed after I filed a complaint^{(was bored)}.

I have to admit those polls are a little too stereotypical for today's society. I am not one to kick and scream about stuff like that, but I am surprised Lego would use those.

[5150 Lego]

@ 5150 Lego You are right about the fact that parents are a bigger influence than Lego, but I think you oversimplify. Parents are not always there and don't always know what there kids do or think. You could say that it's okay to make toys about porn and racism, as long as parents say it's wrong...

No you couldn't. While yes, i do believe that parents are the main influence, i don't think you quite understand my point. Do i believe that toys can have an influlence on children? Yes i do. This is why making porn toys, or toys about racism would be wrong. But in this case, there is no racism. Your concern that imaginary made up aliens teaches kids that things that are different are wrong cause there bad guys. No. I do not agree with that. Nor would i put the blame on the toys is they started making racist coments, cause the toys are not racist in any way.

You are seriously looking way to far into this.

[Legoist]

When looking at the new Space Police sets I got really mad at the narrow-mindedness of the character design. Maybe it's to farfetched, but it was the first thing I thought of. Why are the villains aliens. It's not like Mars mission, there the villains were one particular race of aliens, but now every alien is a villain. It's so racist in my opinion. Of course no one will really get offended, but still, Lego is for the kids and now it tells them that what is strange, must be bad.

Wouldn’t it be so cool if the Space Police guys had an alien sidekick, it’s also an easy and recognizable stereotype, but a better stereotype.

Also, why do only the Woman have a screaming face.

I'm not a feminist or American, I don’t get offended that easily, I understand that certain old values must go to keep making profit, but they should be more careful.

I haven't thought about that...

Yes it does seem that the idea of making all aliens the evil guys is not so good from an educational point of view.

Probably they just didn't put too much thought to it. They went with the easiest possible choice: good vs bad, and made the two sides very recognizable.

Personally I'm not keen at all in the fact that so many LEGO themes are based on "battle" between two sides:

space = humans vs alien

pirates = pirates vs imperials

castle = humans & dwarves vs trolls & skeletons

power miners = humans vs rock monsters

agents = agents vs crazies

Indiana Jones and Star Wars have the same, but at least in case of licensed theme you should be faithful to the original story, so they are fully justified.

But otherwise it's the same basic idea applied to almost every theme. Even City has had clearly-identifiable thieves for police to fight against since a few years.

I am sure that they're doing this because kids love that, and themes & sets are designed first of all for kids (male underage kids, who almost only want fighting toys).

But personally (because I'm an AFOL but also because I have a daughter!) I definitely wish there were more "peaceful" themes: we still have City (excluding the police, which is in fact near-banned from our collection), Trains, and Farm. I'd love to see more exploration-themed Space (like classic space), less action-oriented Castle, and some new historical themes.

[Dadster]

I haven't thought about that...

Yes it does seem that the idea of making all aliens the evil guys is not so good from an educational point of view.

Probably they just didn't put too much thought to it. They went with the easiest possible choice: good vs bad, and made the two sides very recognizable.

Personally I'm not keen at all in the fact that so many LEGO themes are based on "battle" between two sides:

space = humans vs alien

pirates = pirates vs imperials

castle = humans & dwarves vs trolls & skeletons

power miners = humans vs rock monsters

agents = agents vs crazies

Indiana Jones and Star Wars have the same, but at least in case of licensed theme you should be faithful to the original story, so they are fully justified.

But otherwise it's the same basic idea applied to almost every theme. Even City has had clearly-identifiable thieves for police to fight against since a few years.

I am sure that they're doing this because kids love that, and themes & sets are designed first of all for kids (male underage kids, who almost only want fighting toys).

But personally (because I'm an AFOL but also because I have a daughter!) I definitely wish there were more "peaceful" themes: we still have City (excluding the police, which is in fact near-banned from our collection), Trains, and Farm. I'd love to see more exploration-themed Space (like classic space), less action-oriented Castle, and some new historical themes.

Seems a shame, in my opinion, to exclude Police from a collection. Just because they are given reign to utilize sometimes-violent means, doesn't make them violent. I feel that Police are an integral part of society and more often than not, provide stability and positive role models for kids.

As far as "aliens", trolls, rock monsters, and walking skeletons - well, they're purely fantasy until proven otherwise. Pirates did in fact fight against Imperial (law givers and armies) authority and there are certainly crazies (vs Agents) in the world today.

[hewkii9]

Seems a shame, in my opinion, to exclude Police from a collection. Just because they are given reign to utilize sometimes-violent means, doesn't make them violent. I feel that Police are an integral part of society and more often than not, provide stability and positive role models for kids.

Well they're always the chance that Mr Legoist acknowledges that, but also knows that Lego churns out more Police stuff than it does almost any other subtheme!

[Legoist]

Seems a shame, in my opinion, to exclude Police from a collection. Just because they are given reign to utilize sometimes-violent means, doesn't make them violent. I feel that Police are an integral part of society and more often than not, provide stability and positive role models for kids.

I said "near-banned". They are here, but since there's no crime in our utopian legoland, their only job is to help traffic and investigate accidents.

But the real reason is just that when I was a kid I had too many police and firemen sets, and the result is that today for me they feel utterly boring and unattractive. The above explanation is more a consequence of this.