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In lugnet.starwars, Tim Courtney writes:
> I would think that (and this is just my opinion) TLC would have the least
> resistance not playing the race card.
Hmm. Well, someone else mentioned the inflammatory nature of the phrase "race
crad" before, so I won't rehash that. I'll assume you mean that you think the
best way for TLC to handle this situation would be not to make minifigs of
Lando, Panaka, and Mace Windu?
Panaka would be easy to avoid. He was important to the plot of Episode I, but
had little face time. Not including him in a set would be reasonable.
Lando is a little harder. He had a lot to do in Episodes 5 and 6. Avoiding
him begins to bring into question TLC's reasons for not doing it (not *racist*
reasons, just attempting to dodge the question of how to make DSMs).
Mace Windu might well stand out like a sore thumb after Episode 2. Some might
consider this spoiler information, but Mace reportedly becomes a much larger
character in E2. It might be like avoiding Qui-Gonn Jin in Episode 1.
Now, not making the 'figs is damning themselves by non-action, which seems
easier, but can easily draw more negative press. These are major characters
not being represented- why not?
Including them but not moving DSMs over into other lines lets them say "We have
included them in our licensed properties, but will continue business as usual
in self-generated sets." This might lead to questions about why there never
have been DSMs in Lego System sets, but certainly no more than there are now.
> The attitudes expressed in Damien's posts I find offensive.
While Damien does adopt an abrasive tone occasionally (and typing that I feel
like the pot calling the kettle... oh, err, maybe I shouldn't use that
particular analogy here :D), it seems to me that he does so mostly when people
accuse him of having some deeper motivation for requesting these 'figs than
he's admitting to.
Speaking of which, I *love* the arguments some people are advancing:
Damien says he'd like to see DSMs, especially the black heros in Star Wars. He
identifies with them and likes the fact that in Star Wars, race is pretty much
a non-issue. Person X (there are plenty of people who fit this slot) says,
"Why are we having this discussion? Legos are toys! They've always been that
way! Why are you politicizing!" Damien says that he's not, he just feels
under-represented in the current Lego lineup. Person X decries that Lego is
equal. Damien gets frustrated, because it's a bit like talking to a brick
wall, and gets a little abrasive.
Can you blame him? I can't. If he feels like yellow minifigs do a poor job of
representing dark skinned people, you can't really argue with him. It's how he
feels. And if he feels that way, it's hard to say that minifigs do a good job
of representing everybody.
Personally, I think that encorporating DSMs into regular System
town/space/castle/insert-theme-here sets is too fraught with dangers for TLC to
attempt. People would immediately begin picking apart how they were portrayed
in the sets, I think. However, creating DSMs to represent licensed characters
removes that danger because the characters have already been established in the
licensed story (assuming they don't do some godawful Al Jolson blackface job on
the heads).
If they even went so far as to make a pack of more generic (ie, not
representing Hugh Quarshie as Panaka, Sam "the man" Jackson as Mace Windu, and
Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian) minifig heads and hands availabel
through Lego Shop-at-Home, so that individual consumers could order as many as
they wanted, it would be a great thing! Not perfect, of course, because there
are torsos that reveal yellow minifig "skin", but a good start, IMHO.
Perfectly analogous to the Duplo set 9171.
eric
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