LEGO: Don’t let me down!

Last month I wrote about the release of the LEGO Ideas Research Institute set. This set, which is a collection of three female scientists, sold out on LEGO’s website within 6 days. Recently, LEGO announced on their website that the Research Institute would no longer be available online, but (hopeful) purchasers could possibly find one in a retail LEGO store, in October. This is typical LEGO in many ways. LEGO Ideas sets, in particular, are typically short run sets and tend to sell out quickly, leaving the buyer with little option other than to go to Ebay and hope to find the set from a different seller. (The Exo Suit set, released around the same time, sold out in one day.) The LEGO Ideas sets and some of the other more advanced Creator sets are not the sets you typically would expect to find in a mass-market retail store. I would imagine, in part, because they are (typically) expensive and marketed toward a slightly older demographic. I often have friends express shock over the retail price of some of the LEGO sets, advising me to wait for a sale. But, many of the sets I’m interested in will never go on sale. They sell out, are retired, and, from then on, only found from second-hand sellers, often at 3x the price or more. While the Research Institute set is not expensive, it’s also not a set I would expect to see at a mass market retailer. And, I’m seeing its price jump right now as I look for the Research Institute on ebay. The retail price is $19.99, but it’s selling (not just listed, but selling) on ebay at prices from $60 to $100.

I own the set though; I got lucky. But, when the set arrived, I was reluctant to open it, not because I want to profit on it (I will never sell it), but because I saw this coming (mostly for the reasons listed above.) So, I put the box on my bookshelf in the living room, and this weekend I was looking at that unopened box and wondering what this means for females and LEGO. Like I wrote above, I don’t think this decision is anything other than typical LEGO. Meaning, I don’t think they made the Research Institute such a short run to make any kind of statement. But, LEGO got a lot of attention after releasing that set, as I wrote in my last post on the subject. In the news and comments, I read lots of “yay, finally” type sentiments directed toward the set. But, what’s next? I want more.

The LEGO Research Institute was originally named the LEGO Female Scientists set, seen here. The designer of the set also designed other small sets featuring female LEGO minifigs engaged in a number of other, typically male dominated fields: falconer, geologist, robotics engineer (my favorite!), judge, mail carrier, mechanic, fire fighter, and construction workers. I want these sets, too! (Please, LEGO? The Research Institute sold out so fast!)

But more than that, I want to see these sets make a difference in how LEGO approaches integrating females into the sets that have typically excluded females. You know, the “regular” sets: the sets on the shelf of any mass-market retailer in the toy aisle. The sets that do go on sale and are played with by millions of children. I want to see these female minifigs equally represented in these sets. I want to see these minifigs in sets other than the expensive, niche sets that are marketed more towards an Adult Fan of LEGO demographic rather than children. I’m not seeing it yet, but I’m hopeful. That set sold out fast. Maybe LEGO has some behind the scenes planning going on.