I'm going to reply to your comment because it says a couple of things that I wanted to mention too, which is that I have a much harder time with lego now because all of their sets are so *heavily themed*, whether it's Star Wars or Bionic or Harry Potter or whatever. The themed stuff bothers me WAY more than this gender issue -- it's so specific that lego can't help but become more commercialized in their marketing.
That said, I was girly in that was I horse-crazed, and boyish in the dino/spaceship/bugs-are-fucking-awesome kind of way, and once I built a lego set, it just stayed built. I didn't have any need to create my own thing, but more to put together the exact set that was shown on the box.
Happily, back in the 80s, lego didn't sell pink bricks (I didn't like pink), but they DID have a lot of more domestic sets: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6379-1 and http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6374-1 to pick two that I had. The horse stable in particular was awesome to me. :) (I also had the monorail* and Robin Hood and a lot of other things.)
Lego is a dying art form, in that kids are trained from video games and tv shows that toys they play with should be exact replicas of what's on the screen. Legos are kind of the 8-bit, pixelized version of playmobil -- and, as such, have had to start manufacturing more 'processed' pieces as kids are no longer satisfied with just generic sets.
I don't, for the record, think that plain legos are masculine.** I do think that a lot of the sets that came out in the 80s may only have appealed to boys, and there were some sets that came out that only appealed to girls. I think the sets now are shoehorned into being for boys -- someone put the legos in the boys aisle to start, boy-themed legos started selling better, lego became a little more siloed in their manufacturing, repeat. This new launch is the way to balance it.
And, actually, let's just be honest. They're modernizing and renaming their old Belville girls line, which produced from 1999-2008. See for example: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=5808-1 (Ironically belville.lego.com, which was active during Christmas, now redirects to the new Friends homepage.***
Okay, kids, enough lego history.
-- * Clearly the best set EVAR: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6990-1 ** The toy store I had when I was growing up had its own lego aisle/area, so the toys weren't mixed in with either the girl or the boy toys. They also had an animatronic/robotic lego display that changed every month or so, so I might have been spoiled, but oh man did I play with and buy many many lego sets. *** I took the Lego Friends quiz. Today, I am like Olivia. I like creating new things and sharing them with friends. And playing with my chemistry set: http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Products/Details/3933.aspx and my treehouse: http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Products/Details/3065.aspx ('cept, I'd have dogs, not cats) I would totally play with either of these playsets NOW. :) (Also hee: http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Products/Details/3942.aspx) These sets are SO MUCH BETTER than Belville.
no subject
That said, I was girly in that was I horse-crazed, and boyish in the dino/spaceship/bugs-are-fucking-awesome kind of way, and once I built a lego set, it just stayed built. I didn't have any need to create my own thing, but more to put together the exact set that was shown on the box.
Happily, back in the 80s, lego didn't sell pink bricks (I didn't like pink), but they DID have a lot of more domestic sets: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6379-1 and http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6374-1 to pick two that I had. The horse stable in particular was awesome to me. :) (I also had the monorail* and Robin Hood and a lot of other things.)
Lego is a dying art form, in that kids are trained from video games and tv shows that toys they play with should be exact replicas of what's on the screen. Legos are kind of the 8-bit, pixelized version of playmobil -- and, as such, have had to start manufacturing more 'processed' pieces as kids are no longer satisfied with just generic sets.
I don't, for the record, think that plain legos are masculine.** I do think that a lot of the sets that came out in the 80s may only have appealed to boys, and there were some sets that came out that only appealed to girls. I think the sets now are shoehorned into being for boys -- someone put the legos in the boys aisle to start, boy-themed legos started selling better, lego became a little more siloed in their manufacturing, repeat. This new launch is the way to balance it.
And, actually, let's just be honest. They're modernizing and renaming their old Belville girls line, which produced from 1999-2008. See for example: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=5808-1 (Ironically belville.lego.com, which was active during Christmas, now redirects to the new Friends homepage.***
Okay, kids, enough lego history.
--
* Clearly the best set EVAR: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6990-1
** The toy store I had when I was growing up had its own lego aisle/area, so the toys weren't mixed in with either the girl or the boy toys. They also had an animatronic/robotic lego display that changed every month or so, so I might have been spoiled, but oh man did I play with and buy many many lego sets.
*** I took the Lego Friends quiz. Today, I am like Olivia. I like creating new things and sharing them with friends. And playing with my chemistry set: http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Products/Details/3933.aspx and my treehouse: http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Products/Details/3065.aspx ('cept, I'd have dogs, not cats) I would totally play with either of these playsets NOW. :) (Also hee: http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Products/Details/3942.aspx) These sets are SO MUCH BETTER than Belville.