Lego Minifigure Representation Problems in Canada

and More!

The twelve days of Christmas were very good to me, and I am grateful for all the blessings my family and I have received. While there were no maids a-milking or ladies dancing, as I might dream of, there were several Lego sets gifted to my eight-year-old son, and he was well pleased.

Indeed, I spent quite a bit of the holiday playing Lego with my son. He loves the minifigures especially and has started saving his allowance to buy more. He poses them in his dioramas, narrating who they are and what they are doing.

He has minifigures to represent my aunt and uncle, who have been so generous to him at Christmas and on his birthdays, but I struggled to find minifigures for him to represent his grandmother—my mother—who is a Black Jamaican Canadian.

At the Dollarama near our house, they had Dr. Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park (a blonde woman), Batgirl (a ginger), and even an elderly white woman minifigure from the Harry Potter franchise (which I boycott). But there were no Black woman minifigures. I bought him the Dr. Sattler figure and didn’t think about it again that day.

Last night, after he went to sleep, I went on AliExpress to order a new base plate for his Lego, as I think the branded ones from Walmart are overpriced. I remembered the minifigures and searched for "black family" and "brown family," but I found nothing. I was puzzled but thought I might be using the wrong terms, as I’d recently learned to use the term "female minifig" rather than "lego woman" for better search results.

Before I realized it, I had fixated on this small task, and it was after midnight. I can’t get that time back, so I’m doubling down tonight by writing this. I had a heck of a time finding any Black female minifigures on AliExpress at all.

Thanks to Star Wars, I was able to find plentiful Black male representation in the form of Lando, Finn, and Moff Gideon minifigures (AliExpress, 2024):

But in the Lego Star Wars galaxy, it is easier to find blue and green-skinned women than brown or Black ones (AliExpress, 2024):

I found some Black and brown soccer minifigures, but all male. When I searched for singers and actors, they were all white (AliExpress, 2024):

:

Even the Disney princess collections, which should include Tiana, Mulan, Jasmine, and Moana, were nearly all comprised of the white princesses, with the exception of Jasmine, whom I saw once (AliExpress, 2024):

In frustration, I expanded my search on Google and realized I wasn’t the only one seeking these products and not finding them. There’s already a movement to improve the diversity and representation of Lego minifigures—of course there is—and I was happy to see it. Indeed, I have signed the petition:

https://www.change.org/p/lego-change-yellow-lego-minifigures-to-flesh-tones/exp/v2/cl_/cl_sharecopy_24850642_en-US/cv_26576/1343906206?recruiter=1343906206&recruited_by_id=77913660-43bd-11ef-a191-4b0f4d2ebf01&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_24850642_en-US%3Acv_26576

(Women's Brick Initiative, 2024)

Should I have felt frustration at not finding darker-skinned Lego minifigures easily on my first attempts? How could I expect the market to know of my demand when I’ve never spoken of it before? Indeed, I haven’t spoken to any adult about Lego minifigures since I was a child myself. But now I’ve said it: I want to buy more diverse Lego minifigures to represent Black and brown women specifically.

And while I’m wishing, I’d like more diverse political representation as well—specifically Black and brown representation to better serve my family.

I’ve voted for Melissa Coenraad, a white woman, in every election since moving to Kanata, because she had a Black partner, and I felt she would have the necessary perspective to represent my multiracial family. But she has withdrawn her candidacy, and the Kanata-Carleton NDP doesn’t have a replacement.

I have announced my own intention to run for Parliament, and while I feel qualified to represent myself and others like me—as a former union officer and recent business school graduate—I am not the most socially adept or the most formally educated. I would gladly defer to a Black or brown woman.

On the national level, with the Liberals and Conservatives suffering leadership crises, and white nationalism on the rise everywhere, I think it’s time for a non-white leader to rally those of us who feel underrepresented. I hope the federal Liberals can come up with someone suitable to pair with Jagmeet in a democratic coalition.

In the end, I ordered Storm from X-Men, as played by Halle Berry. Like my mother, she is beautiful with white hair and brown skin. I would vote for Halle Berry, or Anita Anand, or Sarah Jama, or Erica Ifill, or Bina Shah, or just about anyone who looks like they know how it feels to want something and not get it because of racism (AliExpress, 2024).

Links

AliExpress. (2024). lego minifig search. Retrieved from AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/

Women's Brick Initiative. (2024). Diverse Lego Minifigure Petition. Retrieved from Women's Brick Initiative: https://womensbrickinitiative.com/diverse-lego-minifigure-petition/