Growing up Lego was probably one of my favorite toys. I had one or two things that were "sets" but the rest was a jumble of bricks that I could build pretty much anything I felt like. I can't say whether it was educational or improved my creativity but it was a lot of fun as I remember spending a lot of time playing with them. Even as an adult in college I couldn't resist taking two courses which involved using the Lego Mindstorms sets - I felt like a child again! Looking in the stores I now see more and more "sets" and fewer free-form Lego. It seems as if the end result (the ship or vehicle or city) is the point of playing with them rather than the result. Even with the sets I recall there were several different things you could build and modify there wasn't just the one thing. Now they have separately packaged bits for each thing in a "scene". I suppose eventually kids owning them might go off the prescribed model or would they just make it the one time (or have an adult make it) and then just play with the finished things?
Another thing I loved about Lego as an adult was that it was the epitome of a gender neutral toy. There was no pink and blue packaging - the ads and pictures had both boys and girls playing with it. It didn't make a child conform to a stereotype. Sure there were more "male" figurines - but really a lot of them could have been of any gender they were all little blocky figures anyway. And then lo and behold a few year ago (?) a new line of Lego showed up - they called it "Friends", it had pink and purple packaging and pastel coloured bricks. Gone were the generic bodies of the figurines, the Friends had shaped bodies and makeup on their faces. Ok lets live with that maybe the friends will be exploring space or the artic, rescuing trapped mountaineers? Or how about saving lives in the city fire department or hospital? Nope the Friends have a hair salon, a mall, juice bar etc... The stereotyping extends all the way from the packaging to the figures to the makeup of the sets themselves.
While there seems to be some general outrage and controversy there has been support for the product as well - some say it tells girls that it is ok to play with Lego. But there is the problem, it was never not ok to play with whether you were a boy or a girl. Sadly the massive sales of the Friends indicates that most of us have conformed to what we should and shouldn't play with.
