I Am Not Cool Enough to Hate on the new Girly Legos

I was very excited to start seeing articles about the new Lego Friends in December, as the lack of pink and purple Legos is very annoying to me.  I bought my daughter a Star Wars Advent Calendar for Christmas (which she loved), and though she's mostly still a little young for Legos, she helps her dad build the Lego Architecture sets we give him for Christmas and his birthday.  

In case I wasn't clear in my post about women in tech, I'm all about encouraging little girls to be interested in math and science, having once been a little girl and went to a math and science high school and work in the tech industry today.  And I don't discriminate between "boy" and "girl" toys for my daughter or my son.  My daughter had a Transformers theme birthday party this year.  My son prefers the Disney Princess sippy cups we have.  If they are interested in something, we encourage it.

Immediately after the Lego announcements came out, people who have more time than I began hating on the girly legos, updating their Facebook statuses and writing on the Lego wall talking about how girls don't need these sets.   I'm really wondering who these people are because let me tell you, these Lego Friends sets look like fun, and I can't wait to play with them.  I mean, for my daughter to play with them.

Here's my favorite of all the set, girly Lego scientist:

It's so cool!  See the robot!  And there's a microscope!  

But let's pretend for a second that my feminist nature rejects Lego market research, and instead, I want to buy my 5 year old a "regular" Lego set.  Let's explore the options:

Fire plane:

Comes with trees on fire.  I'm not kidding.  See them above?  The red thing is "flames" according to the description.  Do you know what kind of conversations I'd have to have if I bought this?  "Mommy, what if the fire plane doesn't get to the trees in time?  Is our house going to burn down?"  

Dino Ambush Attack:

According to the website, the goal is to capture the dino with a tranquilizer gun before it escapes and attack the city.  Yes, dinos attacking the city--that will not keep my child up at night.

Toxic Reapa:

I do not know what this is but it looks freaking scary.  

Recycling Truck:

While no offense to people who make an honest living picking up recycling, I hoping my daughter will aim a little higher on the career ladder.  

Sponge Bob Squarepants Bikini Bottom Undersea Adventure:

I'm not kidding.  That's the actual name.  I'm not buying my child any toys named "Bikini Bottom."  

There's also a large assortment of Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Cars (the movie) legos available in case you just want to re-enact movies and not use your actual imagination or anything.  

While I'm a girl (I guess) and therefore the target market for the Lego Friends toys, I have to say, I totally want to play with them.  I have zero interest in the Lego Architecture sets my husband gets.  The Advent calendar was an exercise in frustration to me as the diagrams to put the Legos together make no sense to me.  They might as well be instructions from Ikea.  We have Cars and Thomas duplos and I'm really not that interested in them either.  But I'm all about building a lab, a cool pink house, or vet clinic.  (I do totally question this Stephanie's desire to have an outdoor bakery.  Buttercream melts!)  

So Lego Corporation:  I salute you and your marketing research for Lego Friends.  Mission accomplished, as I can't wait to buy them.  May I be as bold to suggest you put similar efforts into your other product research so attacking dinos, fire, and bikini bottoms aren't the other options to choose from?