lego men and lego women

So the Little Dud is officially obsessed with Lego. It is what he plays with most of the time and what he talks about ALL of the time. Ok, I exagerate, but when he is not talking about Lego he is talking about Star Wars, and usually those two talking points dovetail nicely into a conversation about StarWars Lego. So, we are kind of immersed in that world right now. 

Which really, is fine with me. I also love Lego, and am rather fond of Star Wars, so no problem, so long as we can avoid the more stressful plot points. And though we don't buy as much lego as the Little Dude thinks we should, we have just come through the holidays and got a couple of nice kits. Though of course, as is the case with all small children, L.D. is strongly in favour of us buying more! He makes helpful suggestions like "Mom! You know what you could do? Tonight, while I'm asleep, you could go out and buy a big new Lego set, like the police station, the one with all the cars and two dogs, and then you could put it outside my door and I could find it when I woke up! Do you think that's a good idea?" Yeah, sadly for him, I never think that's a good idea.  Lego still life in the morning light. Take by Hubs.

Anyhow, my current beef with our lego collection is that there are not enough girls. Story of my life, right? Seriously though, we've bought a number of different kits and only one of them had a female mini fig. (They are mainly Lego City kits, with a few Star Wars thrown in) And what does that lego woman minifigure do? She wrings her hands and watches while a fireman rescues her cat from a tree. Both passive and a cliche. Argh. And the sad fact was that I'm happy to have her, stereotype that she is, because at least now we have a female character and we can dress her up as a firefighter/police officer/construction worker so that the boys can see that women can also do stuff. 

Anyhow, I'm too tired for a full on "why are toys so sexist" rant and you probably know how it goes anyways. (Thank the lord in heaven he doesn't want any of the "Lego Friends" sets, the sad, 'girly' equivalent of Lego that features skinny girl characters and mainly pink and purple components with very few actual building bricks. Such a bummer.)

My point is that finally, I went out to find the individual Lego Minifig collectors series packages, in hopes of adding to our sad little "one woman army" (bonus points to you if you can spot that pop culture reference). Of course, in the true 'collect and trade' swindle of any company, you cannot see what you are buying, as all the minifig packs are packaged in the same mystery wrappers. So I was buying blind. And with there being a total of 16 figures and only 4 female characters, the odds were not great. But much to my delight, when we opened our four packs we did get one girl. A very nice little fairy, complete with wings, a wand and a skirt. So now we have two ladies in our collection. Woohoo. Let the gender equity begin (she says with sarcasm). 

So I warmed my heart when I found this little scene on the Lego table during nap time.  AWWWwwww! The Little Dude played mix and match with his minifigs and girled up some of the boys. A Conquistador/Rebel Allaince Pilot/Tinkerbell and a Storm Tropper/Fairy, complete with wand. Now that's what I call Girl Power.

I love that kid. 

Comments

[Marcia Van Drunen]

THAT is cool (the last pic)
:)
Enjoy your lego years!

[Chris Van Meggelen]

We have some spare females if you're interested. I bet they're small enough I could send them letter mail. We keep getting doubles (mermaid, chick with the boombox). Hot tip: the people who work at the lego store can tell you which fig they are, they are pros at feeling the package. And the little dude has excellent taste, StarWars Lego, Lego and Star Wars are 3 of my favourite things! :)

[Chris Van Meggelen]

p.s. there is nothing about that last pic that I don't love!

[Cynthia]

fabulous pictures...lego needs to read this post and get their designers on it!!!
regarding the pop culture reference I immediately knew that 'one woman army' was a reference to ani difranco's song, but did a quick google and am now a fan of the wonderful Kate Earl song!!! Mom's everywhere unite! it ain't easy but we are invincible when it come to our kids :)

[Marja]

My fave is the Pilot/tinkerbell, of course. He's working the do to go with with those wings. Righteous. Also, when Will was a kid, there was a big box of "people" that you could buy. 30 people for $30 and they were fully half and half men and women--and it was normal life people with doctors, police officers, moms, dads, kids, babies, strollers, tools, bicycles, grocers, gardeners ... Auntie Sara bought that awesome box for Will's fourth b-day and those people just ROCKED. We played and played. So, maybe there is still such a box out there ... although that is ten years ago. 10. years. ago. Sigh. Missing those LEGO days (but only for a minute ;)

[finger thumb]

Oh my GOSH Mar, I would kill for a box of 30 little people! I haven't seen such a thing in the stores these days, and I'll bet you anything it would cost way more now than it did 10 year ago. TEN! I can't believe how time flies either.
And Chris I would LOVE your spare ladies. Tell me how much you want for them and I'll gladly paypal you. They will totally fit in a little envelope. And by the way, do you have any extras of the Shakespeare Guy, holding the skull? We are currently on the hunt for him. Sadly, we don't have a "Lego Store" with knowledgeable employees, just useless big box stores with clueless staff. Instead its just me and L.D. standing in the lego section for ages, feeling up the packages on our own and making educated guesses.
And Cyn, thanks for the Good tip on the Kate Earl song. Nice.

[Jen]

We have just began our Lego odyssey over here and the City Ambulance has both a male and female paramedic...so that's all I've got in the gender equality of Lego so far but I share your concern...on with the battle.