I'm glad this one will be made, but even more so that they changed the name. "Female Minifigure Set" is really bland and uncreative, and practically screams "gender-ratio-balancing appeasement set."

On the other hand, "Research Institute" ties the multiple vignettes together thematically--the astronomer, paleontologist, and chemist--by science rather than by the figs simply all being women. It also is more open-ended, allowing for further sets a la Minecraft if it sells well.

But the best reason for me? A chance to get a bunch of neat little pieces and figs together in one set for under $20.

On the other end of things, I wonder why Zelda didn't pass this time--of all projects to get this far, this one seemed most feasible. Plus, Nintendo recently stated that since their game and console sales were underwhelming, they were going to try and pursue licensing more actively. Evidently not. Maybe the fourth time will be the charm...

It also is more open-ended, allowing for further sets a la Minecraft if it sells well.

Hm. Hadn't considered that, but I'm not sure I see the potential. Have anything in mind?

I can't see how this is feminism and I'm not a feminist myself, but I do have an masters degree in chemistry and the year I began at the university at natural science, there were men to women ratio were 20/80 and it's was back then in 2003. At my last job the majority of my colleagues was women with a background in natural science or engineers.

And LEGO is getting better to include more women in their sets, but the male minifigs are still the majority in town, just like among AFOL's..

LEGO are for both boys and girls and some girls like playing with dolls and LEGO.

I agree completely. My oldest daughter loves science and will be very excited by this set.

So this is a "feminist" set because it has three women and no men? If so what does that make sets with only men in them?

Funny how a set with three women seems to stir up trouble around here. If things were equal no one would give the gender a second thought.

Edited June 3, 201410 yr by Darth Punk

If so what does that make sets with only men in them?

In maby cases realistic. I have never seen a female fire fighter or renovation worker Don't get me wrong, I totally get your point and believe in equality, but in some sets female figs are a bit silly. And yes, i realize that it is possible to switch the minifig heads if you wish

I think gender equality as an important goal. I think the biggest issue is the terms in the decision. For a lot of people, they think that feminist means female dominated. It really means gender equality. I think we need a better word for it.

So LEGO coming out with this set that has three female minifigures does not really change the over gender balance for City. It does seem to be a perfect launching point to get more females into regular system sets instead of staying in the Friends zone.

I keep saying I'll buy a Cuusoo or now Lego Ideas set......but this one is a total no brainer......all city builders will want a set like this !

Edit - come to of it......why didn't the mini shops minus the branding get approved eh ?

Could it be that some themes from Cussoo/Lego Ideas might already be on the drawing board even before the projects were posted ?

At least we get a set that we can easily use in city !

Edited June 3, 201410 yr by lightningtiger

Here it is!

An interesting choice for sure!

I agree completely. My oldest daughter loves science and will be very excited by this set.

So this is a "feminist" set because it has three women and no men? If so what does that make sets with only men in them?

Funny how a set with three women seems to stir up trouble around here. If things were equal no one would give the gender a second thought.

It's a Feminist set because the major driving force behind the voting for it were Jezebel magazine and the community of online radical feminists seeking Justice etc etc etc. people who specialize in perceptions of bias and trigger words and "Herstory" instead of "history". I suspect that the delayed review on this set was less the set itself as it was Lego seeking a way to avoid getting dragged into agenda politics. Their solution appears to be quite clever.

I keep saying I'll buy a Cuusoo or now Lego Ideas set......but this one is a total no brainer......all city builders will want a set like this !

Edit - come to of it......why didn't the mini shops minus the branding get approved eh ?

Could it be that some themes from Cussoo/Lego Ideas might already be on the drawing board even before the projects were posted ?

At least we get a set that we can easily use in city !

Because they really could not separate the mini shops proposal from the branding. The branding is what people voted on. What drove the project. Without it it would just be a few vintage style city shops.

I agree completely. My oldest daughter loves science and will be very excited by this set.

I might get it as a Christmas present for a niece though. I have one that I start on Friends but also gave her the Scientist and showed her that the hair is interchangeable.

Uh.., let's not forget the fact that one of the protagoinsts from Friends is also a scientist-to-be , so getting a female scientist isn't the main idea behind this project (and unfortunately for this designer, right after the project was submitted, TLC officially introduced a female scentist minifigure and Gail the construction worker).

The main goal of this set is to prove that the non-girls-oriented themes or sets should have a better distribution of genders. So far Creator minifigure sets have pretty good balance, but others like Police and Firefighter don't, despite they've been trying to improve. You may see two guys driving a truck in a set, but it would never be two ladies driving a heavy hauler. That is what the project wants to represent

The original project name might be too political. Giving it a normal name makes better difference.

Edited June 4, 201410 yr by Dorayaki

Why all the complaining about supposed political agenda's? We get a great little, affordable set. Great parts for adults, great set for kids. A set that could just light the fuse in a young mind to become a scientist him or herself. I like it a lot!

What I would like, if they do a series of these sets the way they did with Minecraft, is if they do female minifigures in different themes... this is clearly city based, but I'm a Pirate enthusiast, so I'd love to see a set with three female Pirate minifigures. And since a new Pirate theme is (hopefully) being delivered next year, that would be perfect timing. Instead of having three separate elements, they could have a single small brickbuilt boat... maybe they could be explorers instead of pirates or soldiers, to keep in with the 'intellectual women' theme...

Political genius, and a great set too if we get the Dino skeleton. Congratulations to the winner! Hoping for some cool exclusive mini figures in this one.

Really, I don't care for all the talk about how they need more female minifigures. I make plenty on my own. I'm happy that this project got approved. I don't look at it as a feminist set at all, just some interesting vignettes. The fact that it is getting produced so quickly is pretty cool.

Not sure if anyone noticed but the Back to the future train is still under review. :o

What I would like, if they do a series of these sets the way they did with Minecraft, is if they do female minifigures in different themes... this is clearly city based, but I'm a Pirate enthusiast, so I'd love to see a set with three female Pirate minifigures.

I think this idea shouldn't go too far. This set just simply encourages us to get rid of our LEGO stereotypes, not mean to be a supplement pack of female characters. In your saying, it would be that you want to see a Pirate ship set having no female minifigures and rather get them in an independent pack. I would support with you if you can come up with a scenario where only female characters gather around (eg, a reef rock where three singing female mermaids sit on).

In your saying, it would be that you want to see a Pirate ship set having no female minifigures and rather get them in an independent pack.

I never said that. Preferably I would like more female pirate minifigs with the main sets, but this seems unlikely to happen. I'm sure we'll see the same thing we've always seen in a 2015 Pirates theme - mostly male pirates and soldiers, with one token female pirate and a 'Governor's Daughter' and/or a 'Admiral's Daughter'.

Awesome! These are going to fit into my Modular Museum perfectly!

Day one buy!

I never said that. Preferably I would like more female pirate minifigs with the main sets, but this seems unlikely to happen. I'm sure we'll see the same thing we've always seen in a 2015 Pirates theme - mostly male pirates and soldiers, with one token female pirate and a 'Governor's Daughter' and/or a 'Admiral's Daughter'.

That is one of those cases where I would say "that's just plain silly". There were no female pirates! Just like there are no female storm troopers and no Lady Vader.

There were no female pirates!

Oh really?

Just like there are no female storm troopers

Hmm.

Ok so in the period lego pirates depicts there were about 15 lady pirates, and that is by including to whole centuries, my mistake.

If I have to decide between 'history was gender biased and therefore toys based on history should always be gender biased' and 'girls should see women represented equally in the way they play', historical accuracy doesn't stand much of a chance.

Admittedly this 'Research Institute' doesn't really match my latter criteria either... to have more men than women in city sets, and for the intelligent women to be segregated into 'special' sets, is still a form of inequality. But I'm willing to accept it as a token of progress.

Edited June 4, 201410 yr by David Thomsen

David, that is true, except this is just one limited time set. Most CUUSOO sets have very small print runs. Back to the Future and the first Minecraft sets appear to be the exception. This IDEAS set may well have a similar print run to the Mars rover.

A lot of what LEGO tries to do is broaden their market. If AFOLs only bought this set as gifts to every young daughter, niece, and granddaughter, not only would they sell a lot of these sets, but they would get a lot of new customers that might augment them with City or Creator sets.

Like many of you, I spend a fair amount of time in the LEGO aisle and I hear a lot of conversations between kids and parents. The notion the non Friends sets are meant for boys sometimes comes from their parents. Research Institiute can show parents and young girls that non Friends sets are meant for them.

This looks like a nice little set. Hopefully it will not be too expensive as it does not appear to have many large parts or a really high part count. While watching the video, I could have sworn the lady said "Coming in August 2014". Did anyone else catch that? If this is true, does that mean the release of Exosuit will be delayed again?

It's a Feminist set because the major driving force behind the voting for it were Jezebel magazine and the community of online radical feminists seeking Justice etc etc etc. people who specialize in perceptions of bias and trigger words and "Herstory" instead of "history". I suspect that the delayed review on this set was less the set itself as it was Lego seeking a way to avoid getting dragged into agenda politics. Their solution appears to be quite clever.

Because they really could not separate the mini shops proposal from the branding. The branding is what people voted on. What drove the project. Without it it would just be a few vintage style city shops.

While I understand your point I wouldn't necessarily agree with it. Maybe if the set was solely for girls then perhaps the set would be definined by its driving force. Instead I see this as a set that not only speaks to little girls that says they can enjoy dinosaurs and become scientists but also to boys. That girls,can enjoy the same things as they do and aspire to the same careers. I think that is important in achieving the goal of equality that the conversation is not wholly one sided. That it's just as ok for girls to play with boy minifigures as it is for boys to play with girl minifigs.

As much as I like the friends line and we have many of the sets it is a little off putting to some due to the doll like minifigs and colors of the bricks. This set eliminates thoses obstacles and does a better job to delivery the message to everyone. Both are important to overcoming inequality as there is not one magic answer. And I also feel this is a good start that can be expanded into a variety of TLG's lines.

I also agree with the name change and it does a great job of disarming the political side that can often cloud the overall message.

Edited June 4, 201410 yr by Darth Punk

Why all the complaining about supposed political agenda's? We get a great little, affordable set. Great parts for adults, great set for kids. A set that could just light the fuse in a young mind to become a scientist him or herself. I like it a lot!

Amen.

My daughters love female minifigures. This set will provide 3 of them in a unique setting. Win, win, win.

(Plus a dinosaur. Roar!)

As a scientist who loves to encourage his daughter's interests in math and science, I'm looking forward to this set. To be frank, however, the proposal as shown is not attractive, especially the skeleton. I think there would be much better options for "good part usage" to imitate various apparatus (i.e., a syringe in dark blue for a pipetman and a flask with clear or milky white contents rather than a cone and liquor bottle). I'm hoping the redesign is more extensive than previous winners, otherwise Jungle Treehouse (or Olivia's workshop if you can find it) would be an equal if not better option as a science set for girls.