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Comments
(edit: now that's some pagetopper.)
I think this Marvel's Scarlet Widow one is supposed to be some sort of Fate/-ed up Eva Braun.
We have:
(Pictured: Aliya, Liann and Charli).
As of right now? I frankly just don't care, I won't let this gender woo get in between me and LEGO bricks anymore. It'll probably be over in a decade or so anyways (I... hope).
I mean, yeah I don't like that modern children are being told that if you have both 'masculine' and 'feminine' interests, you aren't allowed to be who you legitimately are as a biological human being, and have to make up a whole new identity because for some reason, those on the side of Social Justice ended up being the #1 enforcers of 1950s heteronormativity.
There has literally never, even once before, been a male LEGO Friends character with an unnatural hair color, so of course this guy has to be confused about his gender. Great message to get out there LEGO!
But if I want to buy any new toy, they're all selling this nonsense, and it's not like anybody is forcing me to get any sets with Charli in them (thankfully, the diner sucks).
In fact, watching the cartoon again, it's possible that even the 'official' reviewer is just being overly progressive. LEGO have been surprisingly good about not listing any pronouns for Charli officially.
Though the review was like, very sure of this whole situation, the cartoon has Charli be basically a male character design with a (confusingly) Australian (but male) voice, but nobody refers to him by pronouns (from the like 2 minutes I watched). Presumably, when it's dubbed into certain languages (like Chinese or Arabic), any weird references will be 'fixed'.
So yeah, maybe I'm seething a little, but I'm really over this whole thing. I just want my LEGO sets to be fun.
Speaking of, there's this, which Charli is actually in.
Another thing I learned from the cartoon is that Aliya is a starry-eyed environmentalist dreamer who doesn't understand how much we all need more parking, and that Leo has the accent of an illegal immigrant character from a 90s American TV special.
Speaking of this cartoon, the episode after this is titled 'Over-Leveraged Leo', and the Friends have to raise money, but I was disappointed to find that it was not an early economics lesson for children.
Y'know, the root of the problem is that people traditionally "code" (i.e. talk with the implication of) various interests as gendered when they frankly have little fundamentally to do with gender. Then this makes other people feel weird when they have interests that don't line up properly with social expectations. Now I'd love it if society stopped doing these gender expectations/stereotypes/etc., but given that society isn't gonna stop doing this, well, other people are just gonna work with the imperfect scenario that they have, by choosing how they'd like others to see themselves.
Meanwhile, it's a little weird to talk about a "biological human being" when the thread is literally about Lego people and other toys. (Too bad for those folks who are unusually interested in checking people's genitalia, because there's none to check!)
(and I'll refrain from going into detail about how there's a lot of messy edge cases that don't fit neatly into the female/male dichotomy anyway)
I don't know Arabic, but Chinese actually genuinely has a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun (that is valid for referring to a person). (And no, it's not a neologism either.)
So, for whatever reason, I clicked on this and actually watched it.
1. Aliya's an environmentalist? Like, seriously, I could not tell that from the episode. Unless you consider opposing making a parking lot per se as environmentalist I guess.
She tried to make a project that'd bring how cool her school is (and it seems to be about as crazy resource-rich as the internet-infamous Carmel High School) to the community, and a short conversation with the waiter at an ice-cream place/smoothie bar/diner? gave her the idea of preserving a historic building, which culminates in her presentation about the historical and cultural value of the building, which was in danger of being torn down and made into a parking lot.
I couldn't tell what was environmentalist about that, aside from opposing the parking lot. But frankly, there's also non-environmentalist reasons for opposing them, such as how they're a bottom-tier land use in terms of property tax revenue.
2. I'm still not a fan of the snarky humor that seems ubiquitous in western animation these days. I don't know where it came from (my best guess is it "grew downward" from Hollywood script-writing), but it's actually become one reason I prefer anime.
(Let it be known for the record that while this may be a cultural thing, it is not and should not be used for any of the stupid culture war crap that some unscrupulous anime fans keep trying to drum up. It also has jack-all to do with "SJWs" or the rest of the usual nonsense they keep peddling.)
That said, I ended up actually enjoying the story in this episode. It's pretty heartwarming.
edit: oh wait the bartender is the nonbinary character i guess? sorry i sorta forgot about them since they barely showed up in the episode
Well, we will have to keep doing it forever as long as we engage in modern culture.
Clearly don't remember all the people who never stop talking about how Barbie's proportions would be impossible as a human being.
To children, Charli is basically real, no? He's a representation of a human, not a separate concept.
Intersex people never asked to be dragged into this, and using them to justify people who are clearly/observably not intersex is not a great way to exploit somebody else's adversities.
So does Japanese, and probably lots of other languages, but as you said yourself they're not neologisms which means they're not meant for this purpose (I guess they can be used for this purpose if you so wish, but you have to acknowledge you're using them outside of how they were intended).
I just meant the general overprotest-minded character that exists in a show like this. I wasn't trying to make a RW point out of this, that part was just a joke.
Yeah him.
the criticism of Charli you're writing: shows a representation of a human who is neither female nor male
The former, as noted, is impossible.
The latter can exist in reaity.
The line between the two halves of the gender binary is messy enough already so I'm surprised you're wading deeper and trying to pick a definition of "intersex" (which Wikipedia notes doesn't quite have usage) in order to let yourself decide who is or isn't facing adversities.
I can guess what you're trying to say, but it's probably more important to note that people generally don't choose how they interact based on checking others' chromosomes or genitalia. As long as people do have general expectations on gender presentation, others who may not perfectly fit said binary dichotomy will find ways to work with/around it.
What do you even mean? They are intended as gender-neutral third-person pronouns that can validly refer to people. That's how they're already used in the language.
(Frankly, this is better than English, because such a term would still be useful even if people perfectly followed the gender binary, i.e. even putting aside the fact that people don't.)
Also, please stop.
So the set names for next year are out, and I am legitimately excited for a lot of them, we're going to get (small sample):
For a line that treated it's first ever Hair Salon with absolute disdain, the fact that there will be two whole fashion sets next year is making me very excited. Three if you include the mall, the third overall mall in the line's history, but it's always a winner, so why not?
I also once (confidently) stated that the Pop Star wave would never come back around in LEGO Friends land, but I was wrong! Four whole music sets will be coming out next year, with one explicitly in the 'Pop Star' realm of 2015/6 Livi (with a vaguely similar name, the Livi set was simply the Pop Star Tour Bus, sans the 'Music'). I'm excited for the Polybag, so I better budget for like 10 of them.
The other big development appears to be that Olly's mom (Stephanie) and Paisley's dad (that guy from her 4+ house set) are getting married! I bet that'll cause drama or whatever in the cartoon, but I don't super care. I just want a cool-looking house.
For sets that are a big closer than 2024, we have Disney's upcoming Wish sets.
Personally, I think this movie will do kind of badly, since it seems confusing in terms of style and concept (it's also a ripoff of Super Mario Galaxy with that star character), but it seems like Disney can just honestly make whatever (aside from Strange World I guess).
Out of these sets, I like the town facade most. You get the main character, a cute goat, and a decent facade. I'd get the castle if I didn't have to suffer the consequences of owning it (price, space, etc). It's also confusing to me. Why release the villain's castle with the initial wave of toys?
I'd say it's "like releasing Maleficent's castle" but that actually did kind of happen this year (but as a 4+ set). I thought this whole set was Maleficent's castle, but it's just a very small vignette.
(What is with these swingsets in 4+ sets anyways?)
Aside from that, I just don't like the design of MCs house. It reminds me of a lot of Moana sets that aren't
houseshuts; something is just annoying about the design. Primarily, I blame the thatched roof design.If the "fact" is insisting that only certain categories (as normatively defined by choosing the most common instances) exist, insistently classifying everything into those categories, and ignoring anything that doesn't fit, sure.
Also, gender (as the socially-defined characteristic) isn't the same as sex anyway.
Edit: clarified quote label
It's from the Disney Princess line and it's called Disney Princess Creative Castles.
Now, as soon as I saw this set I was pretty hyped for it, and as soon as I was able to get my hands on it a few months ago I made sure I did.
The first unique thing you'll notice about it is that it's packaged in what was previously exclusive DOTS packaging, which kind of alludes to the premise of the set.
Whilst there are some recommended builds, it's basically an open ended set utilizing bigger pieces in order for you to create and re-create lots of different castle combinations.
It includes both Belle and Cinderella minidolls (as per procedure, not acknowledging each other's existence at all), and has builds that allow you to create two mini-castles for each Princess.
Basically, this is one of the few themed LEGO sets that actually allows for open-ended building.
LEGO gets a lot of flack nowadays for creating lots of sets that are very much meant to be built one way (well, Creator sets can be built in three ways, but only one way at a time). It's kind of nice to see them actually release a set you can build in various ways in a genuinely open-ended way.
LEGO doesn't do this often, but last year they did release the Ninjago Creative Brick Box.
I feel like this Ninjago version isn't as open-ended, it just comes with a lot of random builds, but in general I never paid attention to it at all and I don't feel like starting now.
There was also a LEGO Friends version back in 2020 (which, obviously, I had). This was also mostly a set where you could build a couple of different things, rather than have a lot of open-ended ideas. In fact, there was too much of a variety.
There was also a LEGO City version released in tandem with the Friends one, but I didn't feel like looking it up honestly.
I don't know if I've articulated it here before, but I find the way that LEGO sets come with so many bricks slightly overwhelming. It's basically the act of owning a lot in a way you wouldn't expect.
However, I still like LEGO, I just want less bricks and overall I want to address my over-getting tendencies. Basically, I want to practice more conscious purchasing and ownership of things related to my hobbies.
I've always been interested in LEGO Duplo though. Aside from being 'LEGO' (allegedly), it's also a legitimate toy. I was considering the time I spent collecting Shopkins Happy Places a few years ago and thinking that I should have moved over to LEGO Duplo instead.
The FOMO is real, and some cute stuff really came out back then (which was apparently just 2020...?)
Some of the awesome LEGO Duplo sets that came out in 2020.
Full disclosure, I bought a Duplo set that year actually, but I'll go over the Duplo sets I bought before this current Duplo kick in my next post.
Fun fact; it's LEGO 'Duplo', not LEGO DUPLO. I actually prefer this even though I'm a big fan of ALLCAPS.
So this is kind of a pilot thing. I'll try and see if I can stick to this (especially since I saw some super cool old Friends sets in a store a while ago). I'll practice conscious consumerism and only buy a few Duplo sets at a time, each of which I'll try and describe here, so I can forever poison the well of LEGO Duplo information available via internet searches and hopefully freak out a few parents with my alt-right views.
In 2017, I bought 'My First Parrot', also known as 'My First Bird' in the Americas (the only place where set names and piece counts have to be listed on the box).
I actually had two copies of this set, and I mostly just sat them around on top of my disorganized books, messing with them now and then.
In 2020, I bought this 'Pizza Stand' set because I wanted this Duplo Man (Duplo minifigures are constantly reused over a few years, only being replaced by new characters now and then). I actually bought this with a LEGO Friends Ice-Cream bike set, they were the same price, but the Duplo set was about 2x larger despite containing less pieces.
I really quite like the Duplo Pizza piece, and I really like that textured wall piece that pops up everywhere. I also think the textured flat brick meant to imitate wood. As a low-end intro set, the fact that it didn't contain a super-massive vehicle (police motorbike, mini excavator), there were lots more pieces than you would expect.
Finally, I bought this giant Christmas set in 2022 called 'Santa's Gingerbread House'.
I think I bought this set with my current mindset, but then quickly forgot about all of that by buying lots and lots (and lots!!!) of other stuff. I actually played around with this set somewhat often, and I really did enjoy it before giving it away. I remember thinking it was much bigger than I expected (then again, I was expecting LEGO sized stuff).
So that's every Duplo set I've owned before now, and I guess we'll see how it goes from now on.
(Disclaimer: these are not my own pictures, but stock photos, because I don't really have the time to set up for my own photos lately.)
I was able to get it because it was shelfwarming in that store I regularly talk about which stocks severely overpriced LEGO sets. Sadly, that store is my only option now in terms of getting Duplo sets in store without venturing online, but that's a story for later.
I had been looking at this set online for a bit, but I wasn't going to get it because I thought it cost 10% more than it did. When I saw the actual price, I couldn't help myself.
The one thing about Duplo boxes is that they are very, very big and I guess that's meant to match the content. The bakery somewhere up in the thread is ginormous in real life (and thanks to local prices, costs a fortune).
The first thing that struck me about this set was the farmer's skin tone, which was reall nice and tan. The stock photos don't capture it well at all. Similarly, Duplo figures look kind of dumb in stock photos, but much less so in real life. They aren't the best looking figures ever, but I like them well enough.
The little girl figure is definitely there for sure. I like her freckles I guess? Duplo sets have lots of shorter figures, I guess so the target demo is younger? I personally like the adult size ones better, but there are way less designs for them than the smaller ones.
Another thing I didn't expect is that the tractor is two separate pieces; the wheel base and the big tractor-ey bit. I also didn't notice that this came with two straw pieces and they were slightly different colors. For some reason I like that a lot.
Looking at this, I suddenly realized I built the tree wrong. I put the thicker mint green piece where the thinner normal green piece is, because I thought the grass should be that green too. I was wondering why the middle of a tree would randomly be a different color.
Anyways, in terms of instructions, there were like 4 pages, and half were comics involving Farmer Guy (Craig? We'll call him Craig) getting straw for the sheep (do sheep eat straw?), then the little girl (uh, Annie?) helped the sheep clean up their little shed thing. That shed takes a loooot of imagination to keep going.
So that's my first Duplo set. I really like it so far, especially Craig.
But I'm me, so it didn't go to plan.
So I had originally gotten two sets online, which already pushed me over my limit in October to 3, and somehow I ended up also getting two more, which I felt was a misstep in terms of my plans.
In my defense though, one set was one I'd really wanted but thought had been sold from the Usual Place (the place with good prices, where they sell mostly dolls). In addition, I was weak, and got something I'd been trying to avoid getting for quite a while.
As for that first set I wanted, it was pretty simple. The smallest out of the Wild Animals of the World sets from last year.
10971, Wild Animals of Africa!
This isn't because it's an "Africa" set, but because I liked it in general, especially the giraffe and the waterfall. in fact, for some reason the pieces make me think it's half in the savanna and half in some tundra (the water and grey rocks especially).
The other wild animal sets had bigger tree pieces in them that I really dislike because they are really meant to be nothing but trees. Some of the animals do appeal to me though, like the Wild Animals of Asia (because of course).
(Pictured: a set I don't have, and don't super want, but would get in a heartbeat if I could because I'm weak. I also really like the grey parts, which offsets how much I dislike the trees.)
There isn't much to say about this set. The yellow savanna ground piece is conveniently the same color as the one from the Farm Animal set, but I think Duplo doesn't have too many colors to start with, which is good for me at least.
I'm pretty sure this set came with a booklet, but I can't find it. The story was vaguely trite, but I liked that it revealed the jungle's long hidden secret about how the animals band together to build trees and that all that "they grow out of the ground" nonsense is bunk.
The elephant actually bothers me because neither of it's connections (the trunk or the back piece) can actually support connecting to another Duplo piece. It's even worse since you can see on the top that it's advertised that this is possible even though it's not.
However, this is pretty forgivable because the box this set comes in is slightly thicker than normal LEGO packaging and it's a flat top box that's reusable (unfortunately the tape they use to keep them sealed will mar at least the bottom part forever). It also came with a small diorama piece, which I originally thought would be attached to the box, so it's super great that they're separate and also both reusable/keepsake worthy.
I'll write about the third set, which was the biggest surprise for me so far, later.
I'll write about the third set, which was the biggest surprise for me so far, later.Since I put all my energy into dolls, I can't really say much... again. Later, I guess.
Pictured below.
Anyways, I've still build LEGO sets once in a while so I thought it would be good to keep a record of them here. These are sorted in (hopefully...?) chronological order.
Name: LEGO Friends Gymnastics Bar
Year: 2017
Comments:
Name: LEGO CITY Arctic Explorer Snowmobile
Year: 2023
Comments:
Name: LEGO Star Wars Bobba Fett's Mech
Year: 2023
Comments:
LatinoMaori.Name: LEGO Friends Ice-Cream Truck
Year: 2022
Comments:
Name: LEGO Classic Creative Monkey Fun
Year: 2023
Comments:
Name: LEGO Friends Forest Waterfall
Year: 2021
Comments:
As always, I love the bearded guy, even though he's just a recolor of a guy who is basically always the adult guy in every Duplo set.
Anyways, I've been circling a few newer sets.
For example, I like how the new Emotions set is a bit like abstract art.
I also like the new Space Rocket set. Frankly I like anything that reminds me of FANTASTICS' STARBOYS.
As for IRL things, the usual place has the 2020 Creative Animals set in stock, and I kind of feel like getting it to potentially expand on what I have in Duplo.
Though some of the printed animal pieces, like the tiger body, really freak me out.
From left to right; Autumn's Baby Cow Shed, the Cat Playground Adventure, and the Mobile Bakery Food Cart.
The Baby Cow shed set only really exists for that super cute Leo outfit, and is otherwise very meh (even the Autumn figure is reused).
The Cat Playground Adventure looks kind of meh before you open it up, but it's actually super fun to build. Plus, Liann and Ollie both have cute outfits.
The Mobile Bakery Food Cart is literally just the Mobile Bubble Tea shop from last year in concept, but I think the coloration is nice (if not better). It also features a new character with Aliya, who is wearing a reused outfit (again).
The design kind of reminds me of this random Tuk Tuk LEGO released a few years ago.
As always, I'm missing one of these sets, the Mini Accessories Store, because for some reason they never come in stock at the same time...
However, I am quite glad that we're getting quite a number of small sets every year/wave.
LEGO is officially releasing Peppa Pig themed sets! (Duplo at that!)
It's a few years too late, if you ask me (unless this is about China). Last year, they did Gabby's Dollhouse sets* (at normal LEGO scale), which felt more relevant to modern children.
I was actually just thinking that Duplo seems to lack beach themed sets, so I'm glad this is happening from that one angle at least.
I don't like the figures, but I wouldn't, plus there's that giant boat to deal with...
Anyways, regular reminder that the LEGO Duplo Pizza stand set from 2020 was epic (see what I said about the LEGO Duplo Bearded Guy?).
*It's a Netflix show for kids.
I think I should take some pictures of my various LEGO Friends collections sometime. Despite giving away the majority of my set-pieces, I rarely give away mini-dolls because I really do like them a lot regardless of sets.
This is important because, as a child, I thought it would be a great achievement to get all of any specific doll-line. I never actually managed this, aside from with the Barbie Fairy Mermaid line from 2015/6 (and that was technically a sub-wave of 3 dolls from a line of 9 dolls total).
I also see a lot of doll collectors buying whole waves of dolls, especially for review on YouTube, and I think that maybe this is a bad approach towards things. I think fashion dolls are kind of like clothes, you basically can't like everything, and you should only really buy what you do like.
That way you can show off more of your personality through your collection rather than chasing the likes or algorithm or being a compulsive completionist.
I severely overpaid for it by about twice the original price, but at least now I've got it. This set is notable for containing Friend of Friends Camila, who was originally from the 2021 Circus sub-theme. Her lower half is from one of those male Friends who were a thing in 2022, and frankly her whole outfit is kind of off-kilter.
In case I haven't mentioned it, only the bodice on any given Friends figure is specifically gendered, I guess aside from skirts, and for some reason there's a 'normal' guy torso and a 'buff' guy torso that's usually used on dads.
It was an okay build, but I have so many of this Stephanie that it's becoming a running joke (she uses the lower part Paisley uses in that one Pancake Cafe set).
I also watched a video comparing the 2023 Friends Advent Calendar to the 2007 Belville (a LEGO theme with dolls that I did not know about until sadly 10 years after it was over). I miss pink LEGO, especially Friends pink, it was the best.