Pimping the Bricks

Of all the toys I've played with during my childhood years, Lego toys were my favorite. Dino Riders action figures were a far second. I just can't get enough of those bricks. I couldn't wait to open each box and then follow the instructions on how to build those miniature buildings. Then I'd tear the whole thing down and make some original creation.

For the lack of anything else to surf while I'm waiting for some files to finish downloading, I visited the Lego official website for the first time. WOW. The latest revisions of the Lego castle, city, and space lines were amazing. The line up during my childhood years looked archaic in comparison. Then I looked at the other products.

Star Wars Lego? Harry Potter Lego??? Batman Lego?!!!

WTF. Lego has pimped those bricks! Since when did they have to resort to product licensing to sell those toys? Isn't the Lego brand enticing enough by itself?!

I'm in no authority to say what children like these days. Maybe Lego toys are viewed as uncool or passé these days. Maybe it's a business decision to keep up with the times, so as to prevent the company from going belly up.

It's just that... I can't help but feel that Lego and some of those licensed characters are mismatched. Star Wars looks pretty okay... It's quite similar to their space line... I'm no Harry Potter expert, but those Lego Men Harry Potter replicas all look so stupid. And look at the Batman Line up:




Batman has never looked so... UN-menacing.








The Joker has never looked so silly. Not funny at all. He doesn't look psychotic, he just looks dumb.








So the Penguin isn't vertically challenged anymore? He has Lego to thank for that.







And Catwoman... has never looked so UN-sexy... so UN-seductive. She looks like a 50 year old overweight pimp for crying out loud.





No doubt it's a top selling line. But the whole thing looks so forced and mismatched, i can't help but think of the whole line up as visual reminders the Lego brand has sold out.