And with that, I think this discussion has run its course, so I’m locking comments.

Looked like wermacht w/ panzerfaust, but that’s okay.

And as Marc Forrester said, it’s impossible in this day and age to make a realistic modern badguy that doesn’t take major cues from islamic terrorist stereotypes.

Ok,
1: No matter what you do, people are going to be offended by “something”. Weather it be guns, sci-fi, Fantasy, war movies, ect… You just can’t please everyone.
2: I see nothing wrong with Brickarms producing the bandit figure; I personally viewed him as an insurgent, so what? We need “badguys” for our Heroes to clobber, and these are the “badguys” Children see in these days, Tomorrow’s History.
3: As for the SS troopers and German figs. I personally like to build WW2 creations, and in WW2 there were Germans, a piece of history, a FACT OF LIFE! I don’t see many parents giving crap about Star Wars, I see Parents having a lot to say about REAL EVENTS though, children need to learn history and a way to get to a child’s mind is thru their toys, LEGO is one of the most popular toy Groups out there, so when LEGO doesn’t make history, it’s fans do. And no one has made bad comments about the US soldiers on Will’s site, in the eyes of many people, the Allies were the “goodguys”, and what use are “goodguy” figs without “badguys” to liberate innocent peoples from? Also, when you think about it LEGO is a form of a plastic model, go to your locale model shop, you will see lots of real life military and historical products, does this mean these are evil also?
I think not.

Anyway, I am with Brickarms 110% the news paper did not do enough research and should not have used the image with out asking. I love Brickarms, and my LEGO hobbies would not be where they are today with out them. So, I think will did nothing wrong, I would lay in-front of a bulldozer, to support Will.

GO BRICKARMS!!!!

BrickArms have set up their perimeter, and dug themselves a foxhole. I hate to see them chose a position that puts themselves under fire from several sides. But as Bill Ward notes, at this stage, acknowledging that the White Bandit was envisioned to represent any sort of freedom fighter/terrorist/insurgent type of character isn’t really an option for them; and I don’t expect them to change their position.

In truth, the military geek in me will observe that the White Bandit resembles a British Scud-hunting SAS trooper behind the lines in Iraq in the Persian Gulf War as much as anything else. But the key point here is that this isn’t how most BrickArms customers or members of the general public are going to view him. And BrickArms should/must have realized that when they put him on the market. I’ve met Will, he’s an intelligent, bright guy. I simply cannot imagine that it never crossed his mind that lots of people would regard the White Bandit as a “terrorist,” and that some people might take offense. I’m guessing (and only Will knows for sure) that it probably did occur to him on some level. Maybe he just shrugged, and told himself that was their problem.

I really hope it doesn’t become BrickArms’ problem. Perhaps the best way for BA to continue its somewhat risky business at the edge of all sorts of trademark laws, would be to focus on producing weapons, and not on developing new figs using LEGO elements? I’m not an IP lawyer so I don’t know what options or incentives there would be for TLG to interfere. But needless to say, I really hope LEGO does not decide to try to shut BA down or anything like that.
I also hope TLG does not allow this Sun controversy to derail the planned upcoming LEGO Indy sets, and any future military or action-based lines. Of course, TLG will never release a “War In Iraq” minifig playtheme. There are lots of good reasons for that – I think most of us can agree on that.

I think the lesson for everyone here is that sometimes your MOCs may not get interpreted in quite the way you intended. (Another recent example would be Nick D’s RAMM theme, which some AFOLs interpreted as a sort of futuristic take on the Nazis).

Builder Beware. Keep this stuff in mind when you build and present your creations.

Magnus

Brickarms doesn’t make “toys” They make miniatures for hobbiest. It is a significant distinction which needs to be stated for accurate representation of all sides.

Just a thought.

If you go back in time, there was the Lego Concentration Camp sets made to look like official TLG releases:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliciayeah/397701491/

Only time will tell when this little controversy will die down (of course, endless posting by AFOLs both for and against BrickArms probably will prolong its life).

Oh come on. No one has accused you of anything other than being deliberately and sensibly coy (and if my comment came out otherwise then I apologise as that was the intent). If you wish to continue this discussion feel free to go to email but this will be my last post here about it.

Considering all the real things going on that don’t get headlines on a daily basis (working people losing their life savings due to corporate negligence, insufficient school funding, diseases with no cure, wars with no reason… the list goes on), this is nothing but a semi-noteworthy laugh.

It’s actually satisfying that business for Brickarms went up after this.

No better way to slap stupidity in the face than with a nice full wallet. Cheers for freedom of expression, and for half-assed reporting.