(Written by Legoboy)
I will start this post with a picture….
These are BrickArms guns. Many LEGO fans use BrickArms’ excellent products, as LEGO refuse to make realistic looking modern weapons, why?
LEGO has this policy that they will not release any violent themes. They want safe themes for children to play with – not a “Call of Duty” set. Yet they release themes like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the Sopwith Camel. However when someone suggests a World War theme LEGO says “no”.
I agree that WWII was a horrible war, but I find it confusing LEGO choose to release the Sopwith Camel from WWI. They also have a bi-plane in the LEGO Pharaho’s Quest line with a machine-gun attached to it! Why?
At least to me, LEGO’s view on violence is a confusing, gray area. Besides the examples above, another reason I say this is because they released a LEGO Star Wars set based on “Star Wars – The Force Unleashed” which is a 16+ game.
I asked LEGO for a Judge Dredd set, they told me their sets are meant for children, and Judge Dredd is an adult comic-book character and it is violent. I find this is strange as many LEGO sets have guns, and LEGO also has Nazis in their Indiana Jones Sets.
LEGO says that as long as the story is fictional, it doesn’t matter if it has guns, but I believe it does. If LEGO is a pacifist company, against guns and violence, they should avoid violent themes altogether. Not just the ones based on real events. A gun is a gun after all, and it’s only purpose is to shoot others; be that real people, or little plastic people representing real people.
As far as I’m concerned, as long as there is no blood/gore in LEGO sets, I would be happy to see a LOST set or an Assassins Creed set. 🙄
What do you think? Do you agree with LEGO’s policy? Can you make sense of it? Or do you think they are hypocrites? How about LEGO sets based on adult themes and games? Would you like LEGO to expand in that direction? Share your thoughts, comments, and opinions below!
Also, this is my first post here, so feedback is welcome! I’m a 15-year-old TFOL, and I’ve been collecting LEGO for about 8 years. I have a pretty good knowledge of LEGO and I’m happy to write LEGO news and reviews, so stay tuned for more posts from me! 😉
Little kids woundn’t buy a LEGO world war 2 set.
but tfols might and if lego is a pacifist company why the guns?I personally dont mind the violence and guns since if they stopped with that there would be no star wars or lotr (my fav themes)
I agree. 😉
LegoBoy, this is a AWSOME article. It was very well written. About the article, I find LEGO should not do some very violent themes, but their policy is kinda weird. Most of the Indiana Jones are based in WWII, so that’s a little weird.
I agree with both things here. A good idea for a post, and the policy is weird. Guns are guns, regardless if it is a shotgun, machine gun, a pistol. I don’t think they need to make some things, but they are frequently known for saying something about it, then violating it soon afterwards.
“Most of the Indiana Jones are based in WWII, so that’s a little weird.”
Indiana Jones is very violent too. But there is a difference between George Lucas’ portrayal of Nazis getting beaten up by Harrison Ford in a make believe setting and Allied Forces storming Normandy. I think the key difference is WWII isn’t paying Lego any money to make a “Battle of the Bulge” kit.
It is a weird policy, mabye stuff like SW is fine, because you can see kids who are alowed to like SW, but not so much like COD.
COD?
Yeah, what’s COD? Isn’t that a type of fish? 😕
Call of Duty. 🙂
Oh, I see 😉
LOL!
It’s the video game Call Of Duty. Iv’e never played it, but basically all I know is that it is rated M.
M for…me?
M for Mature.
Ahh…
Sorry about that; I thought I posted that and then I couldn’t see it so I posted it again 😕
N problem, deleted one for ya. 😉
Thanks 😉
What are you talking about?
legolotr, I accedentlly posted twice up higher. Don’t know why my comment saying so came up down here 😕
OH
Their policy is a bit hypocritical, but I’m not gonna take up a fight about it. BTW The Force Unleashed is just T so it isn’t 16+. It’s like 13+ I guess since its T.
I would, though. LEGO needs to see that its hypocrisy is wrong and seeing the horror of two World Wars should have made the founder of LEGO MORE, not LESS likely to have a war theme. The reason for that is simple and that is children ALWAYS will pretend to be fighting some form of evil because that is how we are hard-wired to act in our lives and anyone that disagrees with that is not only not mentally healthy, but that they are also a liar, period, full stop.
I kinda wondered about that. There should be at least 1 deticated theme! Or at least quality LEGO’s!
The weird thing is that lego doesn’t want any WWII or onward sets, yet they had the viking sets (axes, swords,dragons) the castle sets (axes, swords,dragons) and Lord of the Rings (axes, swords,dragons,Orks,big creepy spiders). I would call those worse than most wars (heads chopped off, etc.). Although if I ran LEGO I would not want GOW or MW3, to bloody. period. But I would allow warplanes like the M-109, or a spitfire or even a F-16 to be made, not in minifig scale, but like the sopwith camel.
One could argue that some of those weapons could have different uses (axes to chop down trees) and they are usually not guaranteed to kill one another with them (unlike guns, which are far more accurate and specific). This also brings up one of my issues with LEGO, which is prominently seen in Space Police III, but has been shown elsewhere: Generally they seem more okay with killing/ destroying things that are ugly/ mean looking. Even in Ninjago, none of the enemies they fight are proper “people” (I was hoping they might fight samurai) they are either undead or snakes. The vikings didn’t pillage but fought dragons (though I think this was actually done right).
Good point about not killing real people. But wasn’t there a Cowboy vs. Indian theme (a long time ago)?
Yes
Also, it the ninjago pirate thing is true (and it shouldn’t be that long before we figure out), then pirates are real people, right?
Are you sure pirates are people ? 🙂
Hmm. . . how would a pirate not be a person? 😉
i thought they were the undead pirates no? i thought that meant they were like dead pirates still in life. now that i think of it though, that means they’re zombies. 😯 ok, i hope the pirates are actual people. :/
Zombie pirates! Oh, dear! LEGO is really streching it now! 🙄
They look real in the trailer. And so far, the real episodes are not matching the list we got from IMDB.
I hope they are not zombies.
Me too 😉
yeah. great. zombies. what about spiders or monkeys or something. scorpions isnt bad.
They could be animal pirates
now thats interesting
edit, (too bloody. period.)
Thanks for the comments guys
@Legodude The rating is so different over here, 16+ strange…
LOTR is a very violent film, and it can be pretty scary. no 6 year old I know has watched it…
Thanks for all the comments
LoTR may be violent and scary, but it’s totally fictional – plus it’s exciting (not that I’ve seen it). A WW1/WW2 documentary theme is just not going to grab kid’s attention.
It isn’t exciting, it’s epic!
Oh, I’m guessing you aren’t in the U.S. then. Thats fine. 🙂
My four or five year old cousin has watched it.
I think the main reason is a WWI theme (or WW2) would be a bit difficult as Lego has never made a strictly historical theme before (always, at most, fiction in a historical background); plus, the age range lego gears toward just wouldn’t be too interested in something like that – it might be cool, and exciting in a way, but not the right kind of excitment for kids. Fictional people killing each other – or trying to – is ok (otherwise lego would have a lot of boaring themes) and an occasional figting plane in the Exclusive section is great because the teenage and adult fans will like it (plus, that’s who the exclusives are geared toward anyway). But the themes are meant for kids (except maybe SW, which a. isn’t historical, and b. is so popular that you can consider it an exception), and so they have to be exciting, not just historically accurate. Think about it this way: when was the last time you picked up a Juvenile historical (not at all fictional) library book about world war one/two that went into any depth? It just doesn’t fly. Or roll. Or anything. 😉 So while I think LEGO could sell a historical minifigure theme (like the CMF’s except no fantasy or current minifigs – buchers or computer geeks, for example) I don’t think that they could base a whole theme on it. Just not the right kind of excitment. Maybe they could introduce a few more detailed guns (although it seems like most kids are fine with the current molds. . .) along with a fictional theme, but I seriously doubt that Lego will ever do a strictly historical theme.
Agreed…. Both WW’s are just a bit boring for some kids….
I LOVE history, always picking books up and reading them, unlike my friends.
I’m into history too and I’d love to have a WWII theme but it just isn’t gonna happen.
Yeah, I love history too. But there just aren’t enough of us! 😉
Yea, WWII is a little violent for LEGOS, but The Civil War would be nice. (LEGO wouldn’t make that even more than WWII.)
I really wish TLC would history sets. History rocks!!!
Civil War is too US specific, IMO. Keep in mind that Lego is selling all over the world. Besides, I think they had civil war minifigs a while ago (I mean, a long, long, time ago).
Yah you have to keep the fact that Lego is extremely popular in Europe in mind.
I realized that about a minute after I commented.
What? – that there was one a while ago or that it’s too US specific?
US specific.
yea, it’s my favorite school subject.
Another possible reason for the no WWI/WW2 sets is that Lego sells all over the world, and a WW theme would not go over big with certain countries (whereas, in the case of Indiana Jones, Lego had to follow the story line). Of course, something like Spartans vs. Titans might not be so controversial, but there aren’t any guns there! 😉 Lego wouldn’t want to offend any country or group, I’m sure. 😉 A lot of history can be a bit controversial.
We could always clone our self 😛
😆
One thing that bothers me in particular is the lack (for the most part) of guns from the new Batman sets. The old ones had one that was a semi realistic hand gun which works perfectly, but LEGO no longer makes. Some sets (the Batcave, Catwoman’s motorcycle chase) are fine without any, but in the Two-Face set, it feels kinda weird not having any. I’ll give a pass on the bad guys since they look like their vehicle has a mounted gun of some sort on it, but is the police officer expecting to arrest Two-Face and his goons with just a pair of hand cuffs?
Always think it’s strange, how many officers do you see with just handcuffs
“Always think it’s strange, how many officers do you see with just handcuffs”
Andy Taylor.
war is still a painful subject in alot of countries. lego stays neutral like (star wars, lotr and indiana jones) fantasy.
Yeah, I think that’s the main reason. Lego doesn’t do strict history – and doesn’t even use their own fiction in a recent historical setting (like a fictional war, for example). Just too complicated.
Well, I think that Lego should have a no violence, blood, gore and the whole package right off, no question. Lego is a company that makes toys for CHILDREN. They are meant for CHILDREN. So influencing them with violence in their toys isn’t a good example. So I totally agree with Lego’s policy. Still, I think people can leave the whole ‘it’s for kids’ thing. 😉
So, it’s like what I was thinking for the Hunger Games theme. If they made a Hunger Games theme, the main plot is killing kids in the Hunger Games. How would they avoid that? Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean has violence in it. I personally didn’t see much of Pirates of the Caribbean but I would assume there must be a lot of violence in most of the scenes in the movie. How did they overlook that and the policy?
I think this post has a really good point and I would like to congratulate the guy who wrote this post. I think this is an excellent story.
I’m glad for you because you haven’t seen much of Pirates of the Carribean. I was very disapointed with that movie 🙁
im not planning on seeing the movie either.
Me neither. 😉
Good.
Wow. You really must have a pretty bad opinion of it 😉
Yes I do.
Well, I agree that you are a (***).
(***) = censored by admin due to inappropriate content
It is fine to share your opinion, but please refrain from insulting others. This is a family friendly community. Thank you for your cooperation.
in war nobody wins.but, in a fantasy the hero wins and children can act it out because lego made it so. violence is everywhere. even on the news.but, lego made it so children can play anything that thier imagenation can take them
Nicely said! 🙂
lego should make a hunger games i dont care wat u say but if they did the sets should be rated 10-13
how did my last comment get up there
I just got to got to point this out. I went to Costco a couple of days ago, and I found a SW Character Enciclopieda (sorry for spelling) and I stood there reading it. Well I was looking though the pages, I found something on Galen Marek A.K.A Darth Vader’s eprentice, (if you still don’t know what i’m talking about, look at the pic on this article of the sci-fi spaceship, the minifig in the middle is him), it not just showed, but it also pointed out that on his shirt, was BLOOD STAINS. Doesn’t that sound weird for LEGO?
i listen to the children( boys 10 yrs and up) in my neighborhood AND THEY TALK ABOUT GROSS THINGS ALL THE TIME .INCLUDING BLOOD. THATS NOTHING NEW.
Well, this is from a fight with Vader.
Yes, but we don’t have to encourage them. 😉
When my boys started playing with Lego they were fun, building houses etc. they did not “make war”. My son’s and their Dad made racing tacks, cities, etc. The kids to day see so much violence they think it is OK it is NOT OK . I would not buy a Lego for a child that had a war theme to it. And don’t think it rolls off their backs either , it stays with them.
My own Lego’s are more about people and fun things not destroying people and things.
VIE, I agree. If kids get no exposure to violence, even in play, they will grow up as much less agressive adults. But it is hard. Violence is all around them. In toys, games, video-games, cartoons, movies, the Internet, the news, on the street… It takes a lot of effort from parents, teachers, and other adults to keep kids’ mind violent-free. Not an easy job for sure, unless they are home-schooled or something. 🙁
You have to keep in mind that teen age boys and younger kids like to have something a bit more exciting. I know I wouldn’t really enjoy playing entirely with peaceful stuff ( Lego or otherwise ). You can’t just take your teenage and younger boys and expect them to play with dolls all day. Also when it comes to keeping your kids away from violence , its gotta be completely impossible. I’m homeschooled and I still see violence around me from many different sources.
What I find particularly interesting about this post is that it was written by a young teen. Also, many of the comments are from children and teens, like you. It is enlightening to read your thoughts and comments on the subject, as well as your experiences. They are thoughtful, honest, and real. This is what I always appreciated about your generation. You guys are surrounded by so much uncertainty, so much strangeness, and such a fast-paced life, and somehow you manage to turn out all-right. The Millennial Generation is also referred to as a Hero Generation. Did you know that? You guys totally deserve it. 😉
I’m not sure how to respond just because I feel as if you may be giving us a bit too much credit…… 😉
That’s okay, humility is also one of the characteristics of your generation. Of course specific individuals may or may not fit the description, but in general you guys are awesome! 😉
Well thank you. 🙂
Agreed. The thing is, you don’t want kids to like violence just for the sake of violence. On clear ground, it’s different. That’s the difference between, say, a fictional Indiana Jones theme and a historical war theme. In IJ the good guys are clearly good and the bad guys are clearly bad. In real life, it’s not always so obvious.
The bad guy could win in the war in real life. so movies and books aren’t always realistic.
That’s the point. And lego doesn’t want to make the bad guys win, that wouldn’t work. So they have to use fiction.
well, yeah. so they’re sort of stuck. using a neutral theme would probably spread unhappiness in the viewers. something good is that the sets let you choose the ending when youre playing with them. in the reviews its (as far as I’ve seen) ‘you decide!’ 😕
Taryn, great notice about the “you decide” part LEGO almost always adds at the end of a set description! 🙂
I’m home-schooled too.
Me too.
Me three 😉 😆
That is a crock and you know it, admin. The reality is that violence is, and will always be, a part of humanity, and to say that humans can completely avoid violence is a lie. Furthermore, without the ability to defend yourself, your family, your friends, or complete strangers in a combative sort of way from people, you make yourself essentially their executioners by default as well as possibly your own executioner. How would you be able to live with that on your conscience with your own bit of self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and elitism in your life? Like it was said in an old Batman comic by The Joker, all that was needed for him to become who he was in his life was one bad day and the reality is that anyone could become that kind of person with one bad day. Finally, even the Holy Scriptures of Christianity and Judaism say that even the most peaceful and meek among humanity would become like the most crazed and bloodthirsty savage in the Book of Revelation, so lying to children about banning violence is actually going to do more harm than good to them in their lives. You need to think of things this way. You know what electricity and fire are, am I right? You know that, if left unchecked, they could injure and kill a lot of people and things as well as destroy the land, am I right? You also know that electricity powers the computer that you are typing on as well as the home that you live in and that fire, that is, if it is not electric, anyway, can heat your home and/or oven-cooked meals. The point is that the electricity and fire are not bad things, but, rather, if they are left unchecked, they CAN become bad things. However, if they are used properly, then they can become good and very useful things for you. The same thing is true about weapons, including guns, violence, and the ability to fight. Starting fights at random is obviously not a good thing. However, defending yourself and others against a would-be attacker in your home, let alone an opposing country entering into your country by force, are both very good and useful things for weapons and their wielders. The founder of LEGO, and anyone that thinks like them in their lives, obviously failed to comprehend these things inside of their minds.
Well , Here’s what I think. Star Wars is fantasy with lots of fake never-guna-happen deaths. The mummy thing is also fantasy and its “defending the world” to little kids. Every kid needs something like a gun. As long as there isnt a guy laying on the ground with a puddle of blood , i think it will be okay. I’ve playd TFU and its not that violent. IJ is a movie that little kids probably wouldnt buy since it is mainly made for teens to adults because of the language in the movie. And most of the sets that are violent are large and something so expensive that only older kids would buy it.
I think the main difference is that Fiction is Good vs. Evil clearly. There are clear bad guys and clear good guys. The bad guys deserve to die, there’s no getting around it. In history, it’s not so clear. Who were the good guys in WWI/WW2? Or in the War Between the States (war of northern aggression)? It’s not so much the killing (although that figures) as the side taking. I think lego is wise to avoid anything like that.
I think its pretty clear who was the bad guy in WWII.
How was Hitler worse than Stalin? 😕
At the time Hitler was attempting to conquer the world. Stalin wasn’t as immediate a threat. I do agree that Stalin was just as bad, but you have to keep in mind that we didn’t like him at all either, but he was powerful enough that he was a useful ally to defeat that more immediate threat known as Adolf Hitler as WELL as Mussolini and their equally evil Japanese allies. Strategically our alliance with Stalin was necessary and without it we wouldn’t have necessarily won the war in the end ( at least not without a much longer and bloodier fight. ). In the end Stalin went on to cause a lot of havoc by advocating and controlling the USSR and then influencing other nations to become communist also, but if we hadn’t allied with him Hitler could have potentially gone on and done more equally horrible things.
All right, granted they were both horrible. But you have to consider that we set Hitler up with WWI. The victorous nations in that war just cut Germany in pieces. We shouldn’t have gotten involved in WWI; then there wouldn’t have been a WW2. And if you don’t agree with me, that’s just my point – it’s controversial. All right, if the Germans had really sunk the Lusitaina in cold blood, then the US had a legitimate reason for going to war. But the germans warned us several times – besides, the Lusitaina wasn’t the “peacfull trading” vessel it was supposed to be – it was actually carring war supplies. Anyway, even if we had to teem up with Stalin to stop Hitler, why couldn’t we say we should of teemed up with Hitler to stop Stalin? Ok, Mussulini was pretty bad too. Still, what I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t just the Heros fighting the Bad Guys. 😉
Sorry, that’s the wrong kind of “teemed” I meant team! 😉
Well its obviously controversial between you and me, but to tell you the truth I don’t think very many people AROUND THE WORLD would find it controversial, and especially not in the U.S and other western nations. And by the way its perfectly legitimate to say that we should have teamed up the Stalin because Stalin wasn’t a threat to world peace yet. We also never set up WWI for Hitler. He was a German corporal during WWI and he had no political involvement in the first war. Then after it was over and Germany had to rebuild ( which I’ll admit was much more difficult since the allied nations put exorbitant demands on them ) Hitler realized that the country was weak and he had on opportunity to take power.
Also, we had legitimate reasons for entering WWI. There was a plot uncovered by the Americans that basically was this: If the U.S. and Germany went to war, Germany wanted Mexico to attack the U.S. in return Germany would give Mexico Texas after the war.
Your basic principle is true though, that in War it isn’t just clearly good guys and clearly bad guys. Even though I would argue that a lot of times it is a lot more obvious than you might think.
Btw If I were you I wouldn’t use WWII as an example in the future. There are going to be WAY more mean people out there who are going to just shut you down, probably very rudely. Especially because there are very few people who would agree with you… So if you get in this discussion somewhere else please use a different example ( one you may have a chance with ). Like maybe the Vietnam War ( even though that was also pretty clear cut in my opinion 😉 ) . If you use the Vietnam war you will at least have some allies….. 🙂
Yeah, I know. But everybody else around here was talking about WWII. Anyway, I wouldn’t be so sure about so few other people being of my opinion. . . but the basic point is that there are a lot of different reasons that are involved in any real-life war 😉
Well its fine to disagree about how many people would have your opinion. I still agree with your main point though.
why are picking on lego. where as lego is strickly fantasy. lego gives us choices.go pick on brickarms they strickly war.
agreed.
this is looking at the ‘gray side’ of Lego. I dont really think we’re picking on lego.
Lego’s policy isnt’ really that weird – they’ll sell what will sell. Fanasty themes with a little violence are fine because the good guys can always win – and you don’t really have to kill anybody. Themes based on popular fiction movies are really pretty much the same. But in real life it’s not that way: for one thing you can’t always tell who the “good guys” are, and also, they sometimes die – it’s not just the bad guys. Plus, history can be very controversial. Even putting a caveman/woman in a minifigures series will annoy/mildly offend some people (like me 😉 ), and when you’re talking about real history, it just isn’t the same kind of clear good vs. evil you can have in a fictional story. But in fiction, it’s easy to see why the good guys win and the bad guys loose – plus, it’s exciting in a way that real history isn’t. I like history, but I think that type of excitment isn’t the kind you want in a Lego set.
And another thing – there is no suspense in history. I mean, it’s done. No, what will happen next. . . we all know that. It’s history. 😉
Hmmm… I have the Cavewoman, and it doesn’t annoy me, but if you but if you started talking about what it about, then, it would. But it’s a LEGO, and some of the minifigs are fanasty. So you could veiw it that way. (But sadly some people see that as history.)
I have the Cavewoman too. It’s not that the minifig itself annoys me, just the basic concept. 😉
Wow! My first comment and already 77 comments…
And Admin thanks for that, would never call this generation golden, for a start to name a few: Twilight, Justin Bieber, shall I say more? 😛
Anyway the blood stains are nothing new, in the PQ bike set, the main figure in it has blood stains on
I especially agree with Twilight. SO much violence these days it’s incredible. I especially have stuff to say on divorce and teens attitude affecting their future as parents.
What? You don’t like Justin Bieber? Okay, maybe we shouldn’t star on that… 😉
Boy, I have no idea who you guys are even talking about. . . 😉
Agreed about the teen’s attitudes though. What you do when you’re young will affect the rest of your life drastically.
totally. i mean, you smoke as a teen, you smoke as an adult most likely. then you’ve got all you’re broken body parts to prove your ‘acheivements’. finally i found a teen who thinks on the same level as me!
i am more concerned about the the war thats going on now and the state of mind of our troops coming home. from dealing with horrible nightmares and the mental scaring . teenagers at lest can grow out of violence at home,neighborhood and school.
Yes… I see teens being all excited by going in the Army, Navy, Marines… they have this idealistic picture in their minds how they will be heros and get the badguys. If they are lucky they will go thru bootcamp and won’t be in actual combat. If they aren’t they will come home scarred for life. They leave as excited young man, ready for adventure, and come back as mentally and physically disabled old man. There are better ways to become a man. My brother is a Marine. I know he will never let his boys go in the armed-forces. Ever. War is not healthy for anyone. 😐
Yeah. Which is kind of a problem with all the fiction – it’s always the good guys who beat the bad guys. You can’t expect it to always be that way in life. Really, you can’t even expect there to be good guys and bad guys – it might just be bad and bad! 😉
Neither is lying to them about peace. The Holy Scriptures say that there will never be peace until YAHAHSUA HA’MASHIACH comes back to this planet. General Butler might have said that war is a racket, but despite his years of combat and earning more metal on his body than a junkyard, he failed to comprehend that the concept of peace was an even bigger and far more destructive racket.
my brother is a marine as well ( for 8 yrs) he’s 36 and he is dealling with alot of dark things. my brother is already broken.
Yeah, very sad… 😥
i feel sorry.
War War War!!!!! Even on a war game (Evony btw) I’d rather make peace then go to war with someone. There’s probably stuff going on in the world i dont know about. Look at Syria! Look at North Korea!
SHHHHHHHHHHH! Dont let lego see this! they might remove all violent themes D: (JK lolz)
these themes arent really that violent that was the joke sry if i upset u with the joke 🙁
A World War theme…?
Isn’t that disrespectful to all of the soldiers who fought and DIED inside the World War??? I’m sorry, but I can see why LEGO would not make a theme out of it. It was something that REALLY happened, where people REALLY died, and we should not just make light of it and turn it into something for a child to play with!
Though some of you think it would be nice if LEGO would do a theme based off of the World War, just think about all the lives that were lost and men hurt in those battles. Do you really think such a horrible thing should be made into playsets for kids and adults???
hmm, that is something to consider.
Yes, I agree! There is a HUGE difference between a movie and a real war! In addition to the fact that LEGO has never made a historical set. But kids haven’t seen the immense horror of war. My grandfather was in the US Army as a medical doctor, and he never talked to me, ever. At about age 9 he started to show me photos from ww2. I was very afraid, scared, and mad. I hope no one EVER confuses a movie with a real war! This may even stem from violence that happened in Denmark during ww2, because they may have (probably did) house soldiers, so it is hard to say. But LEGO has seen it in Denmark, and they shouldn’t be the ones to scar little kids. War is a bad thing, started for very little reason, except for economy, and this is not where LEGO should be heading.
Exactly my point.
I’m not saying LEGO should release one, I’m saying that it’s strange they won’t make one and they hate war, yet they make kind of violent themes
Ah ok
there have been a lot of movies or stuff about World War II. Let’s say, Captain America. They didn’t turn a guy into a super soldier and there was a Tesseract in World War II. Imagine what hitler would think!
I just found a site that really disturbs me it it is a video called Lego Wire. I can handle the Star Wars etc but this is more based on gangs, drugs, bad language, violence, guns and treating women badly . Isn’t there enough in the new’s , TV shows, movies and video games? Now some people are taking Lego”s and turning them into garbage . How sad. And you know what they will make $$$ on this because some people will think oh how cute. WE can’t dig ourselves out of the trash bin when we let other pile the**** on top of us and we buy it. Garbage in , garbage out.
VIE, I understand that you found the video disturbing. I’m sorry to hear that. LEGo is often used not as a toy, but as an artistic medium. This is not something the LEGO company can control. And of course artists can be different; some we like, some we don’t like, and some are there to shock us with their message.
If you would like to see beautiful and inspiring LEGO art, check out Nathan Sawaya’s work. And there are many other great LEGO artists and great LEGO creations.
In regards to the LEGO Wire video, I think the animation is excellent. At least that can be appreciated, even if you don’t agree with the subject. Hundreds of hours can go into creating a video like that. Also, using toys as the medium and contrasting that with the harshness of reality masterpieces can be created. This method has been used by artists throughout history. There is something deeply disturbing yet enlightening about such a combination that can inspire people to make a change.
We can’t change what people do, but we can change what we focus on as individuals. So if you rather look at LEGO as a toy, or as a building medium for pretty things, you can focus on those creations – there are plenty. By pushing against something we don’t want, we only put attention to it and make it bigger and stronger. Just by talking about this video here, hundreds of our readers who never heard of it will check it out, giving it even more exposure. 😉
I understand LEGO’s policy.They did this what they actually SHOULD do.
LEGO has had guns and the implied battles that go with them for much longer than they’ve had the licenses for Star Wars or Indy. I’m an AFOL, so this may be before your time, but I’m sure others remember the LEGO Pirates, Western, and Adventurers (Indy-Jones expy) sets. All of those had guns (including some big cannons), good guys versus bad guys (it got a bit ambiguous with the Pirates vs. Imperials), etc.
LEGO is first and foremost a toy company. And let’s face it, for a while they primary target group of their building blocks have been boys. As such, they market the kind of themes boys often enjoy – Westerns, Pirates, Adventure, Dinosaurs, Cops and Robbers, Knights, Ninja, Space, and so on. In most cultures, boys are also drawn towards conflict and aggression – testosterone makes us males competitive, territorial, and protective, after all. That’s not sexism, that’s basic biology. Logically, it is seen by many adults as healthy when boys have constructive outlets for learning about how to deal with that conflict and aggression – martial arts, sports, video-games, tabletop games, toy soldiers, LEGO, and many other activities aim to or end up effectively doing just that.
We cannot keep children isolated form conflict forever, because they *will* eventually face it in one form or another in the real world. It becomes important that kids learn about it in ways that are healthy and establish a solid moral and ethical compass in their developing brains. When kids take out a LEGO Western set and play Marshals and Bandits, it builds a foundation that evil (the bandits) is a real thing that exists, and must be overcome by good and justice (the lawmen).
Another aspect that LEGO as a company needs to consider is that the fans who grew up with their products grow older and demand more mature fare. Often this comes simply in the form of “advanced” sets with more complex building techniques (like Technic), but little kids who grew up on Pirates, Westerns, and Castles often become history buffs as we grow older, and we enjoy building more accurate, more mature-themed models.
Among the MOCs I’ve personally constructed, I can count tanks, siege engines, Roman armies, Humvees, dominatrixes, snipers, Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot (including the part where he gets hanged at the end), MOABs, the Headless Horseman, depth charges, torpedoes, Orcish berserkers, vigs of the various French revolutions (complete with guillotines, decapitations, and a topless Marianne as per the “Liberty Leading the People” painting), bloody gladiatorial battles, and scenes from a jaunty Cold-War-era song about nuclear annihilation.
Do I think LEGO needs to come out with specific official sets for all these? Goodness no. Am I secure in my ability as a builder to construct these from pieces they have in circulation? Yes. The concept of a “LEGO War Theme” is a bit superfluous, considering you’ve already got the pieces you need to make any military-themed creation you like, and even some pre-made ones in many themes (Indy, Alpha Team, Agents, Pharaoh’s Quest, Legends of Chima, Forest Police [check out that Chinook], etc).
So let LEGO keep their investors and “concerned parents” happy – if we need to make more mature-themed models, we know where to get the pieces to do so.
P.S. It is very inaccurate for you to say “A gun…’s only purpose is to shoot others [people]”. The vast majority of responsible firearm owners in the United States never have to use their guns against human beings, but rather recreationally (whether target-shooting or hunting). Of the 2-4 million cases of self-defense with a firearm that *do* occur yearly within the US (about 500,000 of which are rape-prevention), most are resolved without bloodshed, but by holding the criminal at gunpoint until police arrive or scaring them off. Thus, a firearm can “project force” without being actually fired.
Killilyos, thanks for the thoughtful comment! Guns is a very heated area of debate and I believe the 15-year-old who wrote this article did an excellent job keeping it level-headed and also inviting discussion. Would love to see your MOCs! 🙂
In most video games and in pop culture guns are a symbol of power and are often used as a weapon upon humans. This is not a conversation about the right of gun ownership or demonizing the NRA, its about the proliferation of guns/weapons in toys and games. A child playing with a star wars set, western set, pirate set, ect. don’t see the guns as a means for hunting an animal but as a part of being one of these “charters” who uses guns to get the “bad guy”.
It was discussed that games are a way for boys to work out aggression, so I question how guns and violent scenarios are a positive way to do that. Should we promote guns in toys? Promote guns and fighting as a way to work out aggression? Doesn’t it promote the gun as a means for power and a means to “win” as a male. Aggression can also be filtered through active play, through building structures and scenes that don’t involve fighting for power.
I believe the young man brings up a good point about why is historical violence not OK, and the company claims it is because LEGO doesn’t believe in violence when they have a plethora of violent themed sets. Why not have a WWII plane set that celibates the achievements of fallen soldiers? If we can have Native Americans in a Western doesn’t that depict a violent history(this is also very offensive to Native Americans- to be seen as toys)? LEGO does depict history – a very simplistic version of history that involves violence/guns. So the question is are these LEGOs teaching something more then fine motor skills?
LorGluf, you have very elequently described an age-old dilemma. I believe that as long as adults continue using guns to kill (be that people or animals), children will continue imitating them – at least for understanding the adult world around them. We can’t force our children to reach an ideal we ourselves don’t follow – internally or externally. When humans will stop killing each other and other creatures on this planet, I do not know, but I’m pretty sure that as long as that goes on, our young ones will continue role-playing what they see around them. If we don’t buy them toy guns, they will just make one out of wood or paper, or whatever they find. The need to imitate the adult world is deeply ingrained in all young creatures. They can’t help it.
I would also like to point out that children playing with guns is not necessarily a sign of agression. It may be, but not necessarily. I clearly remember that my siblings and I often played with toy guns, but it was more a game of tag than anything about violence. Sometimes as adults we look at kids and project our own perception on them and become overly concerned about something that is not really there. Children who are dealing with agression will do far more than play with toy guns. They will hit, kick, punch, bite or use some other effecting method to actually cause pain to another. They know that going bang-bang with a toy-gun won’t achieve their goal if they actually want to hurt someone.
Anyway, this this a huge subject that we can go on and on discussing. And how LEGO fits into this whole dilemma is a whole other subject that is full of conflict – just like the rest of the world. 😉