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Women of NASA - Can of Worms
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Comments
I was encouraged in science by my mother and the vast majority of my teachers, including professors who'd try to recruit me to their programs. While I don't think that boys refusing to talk to me because I was smarter than them discouraged me from science I do think my codependence drove me to study law so I could help people. I believe my gender was a factor in being taught that it was my responsibility to put everyone else's needs first. I wonder how many people in the "caring professions" have similar stories.
I made sure to point out the Spanish teacher's age, which I don't actually know but she's just out of college, so people know it's still going on. Her constraint was her family.
If you don't like this set, you vote with your wallet and don't buy it. Personally, I'm fine with it, even if the builds don't end up being great and it is just a minifigure pack.
If the issue is it takes up an Ideas slot, well, First World problems much? You can just go make your own "Ideas" out of Lego.
I do hope Voltron gets made though. Love the new TV show.
I guess the main point here is I dont want to sound preachy to anyone else here, I dont want all sets to become all gender specific as a fair and equal inclusion would be best for all. However, with what the Ideas system is I think this is an awesome bit of recognition for a very talented and overlooked group of people
Someday we'll be at a point when having a "Women in..." set won't be necessary or desireable, but we certainly haven't reached it yet. And I'm very tired of hearing anything that tries to redress the imbalance of attention paid to a dominant group dismissed as merely "politically correct." I think this set does a fine job of providing role models for girls as well as reminding us all of the immense amount (and diversity) of work that is necessary for a space mission to succeed.
Having said that, I do agree with the people who can't understand how this proposal passed muster as being anything other than a minifigure pack. The submitted build is minimal and relies far too much on stickers. I really hope that by the time the set is released we're given the sort of setting, whether as separate vignettes or one multipurpose location, that the subject of "backstage at NASA" deserves.
On another note, i guess I subscribe to the theory that attempting to correct a previous societal imbalance by completely tipping the scale the oppposite direction is a pretty damn bad (and ineffective) way of going about it.
I don't particularly like that this Idea passed review but it's nothing to do with the politics, it's just the poor design. Had there been decent builds with it I'd have no problem with it - after all it highlights people who haven't had the level of recognition in the past that they deserved.
But then I'm not in charge of the Lego Ideas team, with knowledge of the restrictions and budgets that they have and the research that TLG have actually done about all these sorts of things. There is a reason it's been chosen, I'm sure there would have been internal arguments in meeting rooms in Billund about it already, and hopefully we will get a nice Lego vignette set out of it (I can't see this staying a minifig pack, we can all cobble together minifigs from parts and print out a sticker with a name on it).
Will I buy it? Maybe, if it looks nice. I've boughyt the ideas sets that I've liked and ignored the ones I haven't.... I can't tell if there's a bit of an Ideas completist mentality that is making some people who might have all the Ideas set a little disappointed that there's one they will 'have' to buy that they don't like... maybe go chat to the SW UCS collectors who had to buy the Hoth set to see how they got over it :)
Do I like the execution of the set itself? Not really 'cos it's a bit lacking, but the set designers will be redoing it anyways so that's not really much of a concern.
All in all: not something I'll buy myself (not my area of interest), but I appreciate it's existence and the fact that it got through.
Have they done female only minifigure sets? Yes.
Have they done science based vignettes? Yes.
Have they done female only scientist based sets? Yes.
Have they done real people before? Yes.
Have they done NASA people before? They are coming in Saturn V.
Have they done female only NASA minifigure based sets? No.
Exactly the same could be said of the Saturn V rocket. It is not really anything new.
But if I had to choose between a decent brick built rocket (with or without minifigures) and a Women of NASA minifigure set, I know where my money would go. It would be the same place as if I had to choose between a decent brick built rocket and a (behind the scenes) Men of NASA minifigure set, or a (behind the scenes) People of NASA minifigure set.
Adams family Mansion
Banks of Plum creek
Mountain observatory
Merchant's House
Modular Construction set
Star Wars Landspeeder
These were never going to be approved right now. These are large sets. Lego has the first large Lego Ideas set coming up. They were never going to do two large Lego Ideas sets so close together without seeing how well this first one does. This is without even taking into account what size/manufacturing capacity the Lego Ideas line has been given.
This cuts the list down by 1/2, and really knocks almost all the ones out of the gate that I would really like to see( and I suspect many AFOLs would want to see)
From a sales point what was left...
voltron, SpaceBalls, hadron collider, Babbage and Lovelace, race car and women of NASA.
Women of NASA is the easiest set they could possibly get out, and one that will sell well. I think the Lamborghini was the other they could have considered. I never saw SpaceBalls or hadron collider having a chance (license, and I do not personally think there is enough of an audience for these). Lovelace/Babbage, which looking at... I do love the charm of a black and white set, and the size of it looks right for this release. I do wonder if the overall look of the computer hurt this project. It is hard to tell what that is, and so is not necessarily going to have as much display appeal or play appeal.
At the end of the day choosing this set was really not about most the reasons given on this thread. As has been mentioned Lego Ideas is not really what most AFOLs want it to be. If it was, multiple of those large sets would have been made. Instead, there are going to be capacity limitiations and bandwidth limitations put on the ideas team. There are marketing considerations, and yes they are going to also be looking at what sets are coming out and what sets are in the pipeline still.
^^ There's a Ridiculous thread? Where? How could I have missed it? 90% of my posts should probably go in there. Actually, how come @pitfall69 has been allowed to leave it? :-)
Is it possible that the name will change to 'Scientists of NASA' and will include a male character or two?
I don't have a problem with the set, but I can't see that I see it selling all that well. A lot of people who aren't really into Lego will see it and say "oh, people, that's boring" and move on. And then there are those of here who think the set is cool, but won't actually buy it ourselves.
You can argue any ideas set will fall into those traps, and it's hard to sit here and say that just because it got 10,000 votes means it will sell well. Voting is free; buying is not. The only Ideas set to this date that I bought was the Back to the Future car, and that was before it was actually Ideas. For the given price it will likely be and what you're getting out of this set, I just don't see it selling very well.
Anyway, personally I don't mind this set. It will likely be a nice companion set to the Saturn V one. I'm sure to buy several as gifts; hopefully TLG will beef up the vignettes a bit so I'll be more eager to add it to my personal collection as well.
Too bad Grace Hopper only indirectly contributed to NASA's success and hence is not part of this set. I would kill for an official minifig of her in Rear Admiral uniform.
I also expect organisations promoting STEM to actively push this set.
Not claiming demand will be huge, but there's definitely demand. And just like not all Lego sets appeal to AFOL's, I don't expect all Ideas sets to appeal to (all) AFOL's.
It's pretty clear that they'd put actual, identifiable effort into their project so the fact that it won out doesn't overly bother me - the main issue I've got with Ideas is the absolute slog of sloppy, rushed projects caused by the Ideas team lowering the minimum age to 13 years old and their refusal to do anything long-term to fix the problem. In contrast, this latest project passing is barely an issue.
I could see the former happening (remember the female scientists set?), but the latter would be a massive PR backfire for TLG so I'm guessing that's outta the question.
STILL trying to work out how this was ever accepted as a submission (let alone passed). And now having read TLG's requirements for the first time in a while am also wondering why Existing properties are allowed as submissions.
It's easy to see why they passed this one but I miss the ethos of 'Only the best is good enough'. The more I see moves like this (accompanied by all the issues we all already know regarding quality) can't help feeling the motto these days is 'Only the most is good enough'...
This is not just "LEGO Minifigures with accessories" or "battle packs" — it includes four pretty substantial vignettes/mini-models. By comparison, a "battle pack" of four or five minifigures might include just one or two vignette-sized builds.
And always remember, "only the best is good enough" generally means the best that is feasible, not the best that is imaginable. Nobody ever takes "only the best is good enough" to mean that, say, any gold-colored bricks will be plated with actual gold. So they shouldn't expect it to mean "we'll produce and sell only the coolest models fans propose to us, regardless of whether they have a good business case or we expect them to make money".
I think other people have correctly assessed that pretty much none of the other projects in this review were likely to pass. Spaceballs couldn't get made since Mel Brooks made a deal never to produce any Spaceballs merchandise; Addams Family Mansion, the Observatory, Little House, and the Construction Site were probably way bigger than the expected market for those sets could support; LHC had negligible play value and a concept that isn't nearly as trendy as space exploration; Landspeeder was both massive and probably something LEGO had already considered on their own; and most of the play value of Lovelace and Babbage came from compatibility with non-LEGO hardware (a Raspberry Pi computer) that LEGO was not likely to endorse as a kids' plaything.
As to anyone wondering where the "men of NASA" are, we're likely to get three "men of NASA" in the Saturn V Rocket set.
The same happened with the Research Institute, loads of news agencies picked it up. It is only really a story if you believe that lego is for boys only. "Boys-toys company break the mould and makes a set featuring girls. Shock horror." is a headline whereas "Company that already makes stuff for girls makes more stuff featuring girls" is less interesting. Obviously replace girls with women or females depending on how sensationalist you want to be. I don't think it is the science aspect of it that the pres cares about, they wouldn't have a story if it the headline is "Lego makes (another) scientists set" or "Lego does a set of math(s) nerds". Even "Lego makes a NASA set" is just an advert rather than a headline.
It is a shame really that things haven't changed much since Research Institute, there still seems to be a perception that lego is for boys and that it is a shock and even newsworthy when lego makes a set likes this celebrating women. Although most news outlets these days will publish anything, once it is on one site everyone has to have it to make sure they get the advertising clicks when people search for it. I've seen it on the BBC and Telegraph websites already today.
The funny thing is ... how do The Telegraph categorise such a news story ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/lego-celebrates-nasas-female-space-pioneers-new-set/
It is in the Lifestyle > Women section. Nothing for men to see here. This is a women's story. Although obviously cut and pasted by a male journo, they don't want women doing men's jobs like serious journalism. Oh, wait a minute ...
There is the quote from the designer (grabbed from the BBC, but probably the same elsewhere) ... "I hope it sets a new example for both girls and boys," said Ms Weinstock. "Girls, in that they can and should be engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, and boys, in that they internalise at an early age that these careers are for everyone, not only men." Isn't there the problem that what they are showing is that the STEM jobs are for women, in a women only environment, and that men have to strive to be the heroes (like astronauts). Surely a better way to internalise that these careers are for everyone is to celebrate the success of and show both sexes, working together.
I think the difference with things like the three men from the Apollo 11 mission and the Women of NASA set (of whom two, Mae Jemison and Sally Ride, are/were astronauts, so it's not only commemorating women in backroom roles) is that they're commemorating specific people rather than generic volcanologists/police officers/whatever. It didn't bother me that the Yellow Submarine set was all male figures, because the Beatles were indeed all men. Same with Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins being in the Saturn V in Lego, as in real life...
Your argument was that this was a PR gold mine for Lego because of a recent feature film. If that is the reason this set was approved, then it is a simple PR stunt for sales, and nothing more. I personally think it was going to get approved with or without the feature film, because as I stated earlier, the ridiculous amount of negative press they would have received for rejecting it was simply not worth it.
The rejection of both the Science Adventures and National Parks submission also make this clearly more of a PR stunt from my point of view. The National Parks set could have been very educational, and considering the very first Ideas set was for Japan only (and indeed the second set was also of a Japanese spacecraft), I have a hard time buying the argument that it was too region specific. This approved submission is essentially just Research Institute 2.0 with real life people. Since Science Adventures got rejected due to its similarity to the Research Institute, it only stands to reason that this submission too should have been rejected.
Yes, Lego will go for PR stunts. The prime example of this is the Research Institute, and to a lesser extent the entire Ideas platform as a whole.
Lego is a company first and foremost. Approving this submission is a giant positive PR stunt, in my opinion, that will produce quite a few sales for them. As a company, their purpose is to make profit while providing goods to consumers. Approving this submission allows them to do that, with a little bit of good press thrown in. As a fan, I recognize their right to pull a PR stunt like this to make profit, but I am also allowed to point out that I see nothing altruistic in their actions and criticize them for not approving similar submissions (Science Adventures and National Parks) I would have been interested in purchasing.
Not trying to be that person, but I really wouldn't call these substantial vignettes or mini-models. The Star Wars Microfighters and DC/Marvel Mighty Micros I would consider substantial mini-models. These are vignettes that, quite honestly, aren't super interesting. The mini space shuttle is probably the best of them. Because of the subject matter, it's hard to make vignettes that are genuinely interesting that aren't just a bunch of little rockets, and those would be rather bland in design. The fact of the matter is the mini-models are there solely to compliment the minifigures and help make it pass, not the other way around, and nobody voted for this set because they also liked the models; they voted because of the minifigures.
I'm not saying the set shouldn't be made in some fashion or another. I'm really not against the idea. But you're on shaky ground when you defend the set on the basis of the mini models.
Things like this clearly set an example to girls that they can do science. Yet note in the quote above, an example to girls and boys. If they make sets that airbrush out achievements based on gender (or include only achievements based on gender, however you want to look at it) there is the danger that the set is ignored by boys. It becomes a historically irrelevant piece, or it is just there to be politically correct, or not interesting as it is just for women. Then it fails in half of its mission, a half that is just as important as the first half. Not just to show girls that girls can do science, but also to show boys that girls can do science too. Much of the problem still is not individual but societal.
It almost shows that five women did work that should be celebrated by lego whereas only a smaller number (2 or 3) of men did the same. So where is the problem with women in STEM? People say it is hard for women in science, yet if 5 women are celebrated but only 3 men, then women must have it relatively easy. When of course the reality is far different.
^ Yes this is a contradiction we see a lot. First we rightly hear woman didn't have the same opportunities as men but then we are told if we recognise a group of people historically we must have an equal number of men and women. Which completely ignores that fact the women were disadvantaged.
I don't think its the case that these 5 are not household names because they were women, I think if they were men they would still be unknown.
And as for Legos track record:
http://brickset.com/sets/6456-1/Mission-Control
A large premillennial town space set with only a women Astronaut!
(the fact we only know she is a women because she is going into outer space with lipstick on is another matter)
Those are for my remaining 10% then! :-)
My comments regarding wanting the best aren't the "best imaginable" - I'd be more than happy with the quality and consistency the elements provided me two decades ago.
i TOTALLLY get why they did it, just the fact they felt they had to is a bit sad to me.
Theres been Ideas rounds in the past where no projects were passed and based on the guidelines - I really feel this should have been one of them.
You're saying you would have rather Lego not put out a set that doesn't appeal to you but serves to educate and empower then get something?
It's got nothing to do with whether I like the set or not - in fact I'm entirely ambivalent and would be equally harsh if they were 5 figs I was really wanting to see. The set dilutes the Ideas theme (and guidelines) by the CONTENTS of the submission. There's nothing wrong with the SUBJECT of the submission - and (as someone mentioned earlier) TLG may well alter the submission enough to include a buildable part of the submission worthy of the Ideas theme.
It would be no different in my mind than if the original Ghostbusters Ideas set was the four figs with proton packs and ghost traps.
Why not wait to see what's actually done? And still, any argument that NOTHING is somehow better than something is a bit odd...
That said, there is something uniquely frustrating (and I dare say, a bit sexist) about how a lot of the negativity towards this and the research institute alike has been framed as LEGO kowtowing to "political correctness". I don't think there's anything inherently more political about the message that "women in science are cool" than that "Minecraft is cool" or "The Beatles are cool". But there's this prevailing attitude that if people like a project for feminist reasons, it's less legitimate than other reasons to like a project. While people have questioned the legitimacy of other projects that sought support outside LEGO fan circles, such as the aforementioned Minecraft project, I have never seen anybody try to blame it on politics like they have with this or the Research Institute. I see no reason why liking toys with positive female role models should be seen as a political statement.
Well, to argue that, you have to look at what it does for the Ideas brand, if you can call it that. Sure, if they didn't produce anything, then we don't get a set. But that's something physical. If there aren't any good sets, and Lego doesn't make any, that means it didn't meet what they felt was appropriate for the Ideas brand and "preserves" what it's about. It's an odd way to think about it, but it is possible that nothing can be better than something.
Having said that, I don't necessarily agree that this is the case with this submission, and that this one shouldn't be produced. But I see logic in nothing producing something.
http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/15210/21110-research-institute/p1
I saw a lot of people on here who were incensed that the mainstream media and general public did not know that TLG has years-long leads times for set design, and therefore the campaign wouldn't have driven TLG to include the disabled character. People were furious that this belief existed, and would now flourish, that one could campaign for representation in Lego form, and get it.
And then there were people who were just plain annoyed that representation was felt to be necessary at all - questions about why disabled people would need to see ourselves in Lego sets, wouldn't it just depress us to be reminded of our disabilities while playing with Lego, "I know a disabled person who doesn't like/want it," etc. etc.
And then some time passed and the set became available to buy. It started being mentioned when people compiled lists of favourite sets of 2016 in various categories, people posted photos of how they were modding it... life went on. More recently, we found out that the new bus station set for 2017 includes a woman with a wheelchair, and people are going, "Oh, nice detail, and look, they made the bus wheelchair accessible. Cool, I wonder how exactly they've implemented that."
The fact people are so chill about it now makes me wonder if the problem was ever the disabled character in the first place, so much as the possibility that the general public might get the idea of Lego as an inclusive place, even a deliberately inclusive place. But it also makes me wonder how big a problem people will have with this set once it's actually out - quite apart from the issue of whether the vignettes are substantial enough to merit the name, which I agree is a perfectly reasonable thing to be concerned about.
And now @Pitfall69's pointed out that people raised a lot of the same political questions about Research Institute... it feels like we as a community have a pattern with this stuff, and I wonder if the level alarm has ever turned out to be merited.
Lego is about many thjngs and it is not a one size fits all model. This is another thing that really does go into Lego Ideas and something that has been left out of the conversation here. They really have picked a variety of sets... just to name a few..... micro build, a large build, vignette, game, licensed, science model etc.
minecraft micro builds
maze
Fisherman
Back to the Future
Doctor Who
Birds
Lego Ideas is more of a balance between releasings sets that might not be normally made, what they can market and sell, and what fits into their manufacturing line and design time.
I actually think the Katharine Johnson vignette is pretty darn cool for something so small, but I would rather have seen a whole NASA control room set with her in it than these four discrete mini vignettes).