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Study shows Lego has become more "violent" and "weaponized"


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http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jun/04/weaponized-legos/

 

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this, but I do know that since its founding in 1932, Lego has pretty much stuck with the family friendly theme. Sure, themes such as pirates and knights will have weapons, but that's not a surprise, is it? It's not like Lego is making sets that depict shootings and bombings. Heck, they don't even give police figures nightsticks and/or guns like Playmobil does. There is no military themed sets at all, either, and that's likely for a good reason.

 

So yeah, I'm a little baffled, because overall, Lego is still very family friendly. Thoughts?

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Lego has always been on the forefront in building stuff that is culturally relevant. A lot of the sets nowadays will depict culturally relevant things, such as Star Wars, but also other things such as battleships or other sorts of builds.

 

But Lego is not really doing 'violent', 'weaponized' sets. Rather, it is building sets to reflect the times. And the times are a bit more 'gung-ho', so more 'gung-ho' sets. 

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Title's giving misleading first impressions. The actual article does state that the trend also applies to the toy industry as a whole, and Lego has, despite the observed increase in presence of weapons, remained relatively harmless.

 

I feel the study is flawed. Rather than analyzing weaponization by looking at how many weapons there are in general, what's more appropriate is looking for gratuitous weaponry.

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In my opinion, LEGO weapons shouldn't be considered a real act of "violence", since they are made of polymer and plastic and shouldn't harm the user/builder? Weapon doesn't always state violence, but can be part of a character's trademark/culture, which gives the character a distinctive touch. 

 

Weapons are possibly made to target younger boys who like a taste of action whilst building, and can encourage creativity and endless role-play possibilities, and are made equivalent to the current development, following various movies and video game franchise 

Weapons made LEGO more diverse and comprehensive to ages.....

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Personally, having more violent toys is GOOD for children, especially boys. Boys have been constantly egged on to become more "peaceful" and woman-like when in reality their human nature directs them to action and adventure (and consequently violence).

And here we have a disgusting example of gender essentialism.

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As far as I can tell, Lego is still pretty harmless. Perhaps they're catering to a more mature market since these days Lego's main customer base is young/middle-aged men who never grew up and take it too seriously (kinda like YGO) so it would make sense for them to trend towards less kid-friendly products.

 

Also fun fact: Lego is currently a better financial investment and store of wealth than gold.

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And here we have a disgusting example of gender essentialism.

Meaning? It has been proven that males are more interested in toys involving action than other genres. The entire article pointed something out that is perfectly normal and made it 'bad' somehow.

 

Edit - Hate autocorrect.

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As far as I can tell, Lego is still pretty harmless. Perhaps they're catering to a more mature market since these days Lego's main customer base is young/middle-aged men who never grew up and take it too seriously (kinda like YGO) so it would make sense for them to trend towards less kid-friendly products.

 

Also fun fact: Lego is currently a better financial investment and store of wealth than gold.

 

There are definitely people who take Lego too seriously, but I'd be careful not to group em all, since there are a ton of AFOLs (Adult Fan of Lego) out there, and many still view it as a fun hobby.

 

Though, I wonder about the catering, because a more adult customer base would probably want to see some stuff Lego would never do ever. You do have sets marketed to adults like:

 

 

And this:

 

 

But overall, Lego is still something that can appeal to adults, but still friendly enough for kids, imo. Those two and other sets are rather expensive, btw. That Ghostbusters Firehouse costs about $350.

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Come on dude, you know I hate Ghostbusters. XD 

I used to collect legos myself. I would continue if they weren't so expensive. Haha.

 

Lego is expensive, but how expensive depends on what you buy. If you're buying sets like those, then definitely yes. If you're buying some for say, $30, like this Captain America Civil War set:

 

 

Then, it's not so bad, unless you're buying the $20 to $30 dollar sets frequently.

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