Do Adult Fans of LEGO have a responsibility to use LEGO bricks only for family friendly creations? It’s a question that has gained additional relevance over the last few days.
It seems that mainstream media have come across Citizen Brick’s Superlab Playset – A LEGO version of the meth lab from popular TV show Breaking Bad. Despite the actual set being sold out, the media outlets have been making some outlandish claims.
Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail says
Kids can now build their own little drug dens
Meanwhile the UK’s Daily Mail reports that
infants can even reenact scenes from the series
Back at home in Australia, the Herald Sun adds
It is feared children will get their hands on the toy and use it to recreate Walter White’s notorious crystal meth lab.
There is one thing very wrong with all of those assumptions – Children should not be watching Breaking Bad. They should have no idea who Walter White is, and they certainly shouldn’t be able to recognise the Superlab set as a meth lab. It’s not unreasonable that concerned people will see a link between this set and LEGO, but this is a fan creation designed for adults.
Bricking Around has long held the view that the AFOL community is a great collection of friendly and talented people. LEGO is not just a children’s toy, it is increasingly being used as a creative medium. Take the work of Nathan Sawaya as an example; nobody is mistaking his creations as something for kids.
Drugs are always a difficult subject and there are even going to be AFOLs who find this set to be distasteful and inappropriate. I believe that the appropriateness of Breaking Bad as a subject for MOCs is a discussion for the AFOL community to have amongst itself. Having the media portray AFOLs as trying to sell a drug lab playset to children presents the community in a way that nobody wants, and it is simply not true.
That brings us back to the original question posed in this article – Do Adult Fans of LEGO have a responsibility to use LEGO bricks only for family friendly creations? The answer may just come down to context. If this build was displayed at a public event with children attending, it would be inappropriate. If this was just a really great MOC posted on Flickr, then it’s unlikely anybody outside the AFOL community would have an opinion. When it becomes a packaged product sold online? Well that seems to be where it starts to get messy. What do you think?