LEGO Magazine: pink for girls ...

Received today the January / February 2012 issue of LEGO Magazine. Nothing very exciting for AFOLs, but we are not the target of this support.

However, I note the presence of a short but nice 4-page comic strip on the Star Wars theme (of which I put a photo above) and in which we find the X-Wing of the set 9493 X-Wing Starfighter, the Tie Fighter of the set 9492 Tie Fighter as well as the minifigs of Luke and Jek Porkins.

This allows me to bounce back on the news of brick set about the release of a specific LEGO Magazine for girls highlighting the new range LEGO Friends.

I'm not sure what to think of this new range, but LEGO's strategic choice to divide the communication media according to the type of target does not seem to me to be wise. Bringing girls into the world of LEGO involves integration into the community of children who are LEGO fans, not by sectoring them into a pink universe populated by ice cream, puppies and pretty sports coupes.

You will tell me that the border between the two universes is porous and that the girls will be able to interact with the boys in the City universe for example. But I don't believe it, and the choice to design minifigs that are completely different from the ones we know may frustrate girls who show interest in classic LEGOs.

The future will tell if LEGO made the right choice, but as we have seen with other projects in fields such as video games, for example, LEGO is testing many concepts and will ultimately only keep those that are prove profitable over time.

The Friends range comes up against Petshops, PollyPockets, Zhu Zhu Pets and other Barbie dolls in a market that has its own codes and trends. The success of the range will largely depend on the possible contagion effect in schoolyards.