LEGO Editions football sets announced!

I dont know why but sets 43016 and 43015 remind of the 1980s cartoon Centurions

Eh pretty good.
Not interested really but kinda nice ig.

Wow. I am shocked! My wanted list is far too long to fit any of these, but unlike the last two these are actually reasonably nice sets!

The minifigs look amazing! Not my cup of tea, but I think most of these are great sets nonetheless.

Something that's not shown in these pictures: I believe both of the near-Constraction looking sets have multiple poses and scenes they can be rebuilt into? I believe they both have a Celebration pose and a pose for kicking the ball?

@Afo_Xwbagot said:
"I do hope that behind Vini Jr is not supposed to represent a Brazilian favela. :/"

Looks like it to me. I agree, that's an interesting choice.

@King_J said:
"Has any man ever received this much Lego love? Messi Minifig, Messi Bionicle, and Buildable Messi's Back all in one wave!"

And don't forget about so many Messy sets!

The pieces in these sets are really interesting, many recolors or very new and thus relatively rare parts. It will be interesting to see how discounts will turn out for these sets. Seeing how low discounts are on items targeted at ultra-casuals like the Mona Lisa these sets might end up being a good way to stock up on specialty parts while also getting some incredible looking minifigures and t-shirt torsos with some of these sets. Much better than I had anticipated.

That energy effect behind the balls is pretty cool looking. - Neat sets!

These "highlights" sets are really nifty, and these may be some of the most detailed paint jobs on minifigure parts ever. These aren't for me, but I know they're for someone. I'd love to see such dynamic diorama compositions for Ninjago, etc.

Well, maybe not the "mechs"... They are kind of ugly, not sure why they did so many at once.

I can see the US one selling like cold lemonade in winter... maybe a couple, but a waste of effort.

Will football threads start being shut down like Harry Potter threads? Hopefully the offenders will be permanently banned instead.

I don't like the soccer that much, but they kind of cooked with these sets. Reasonable prices as well, and the Messi figure in particular looks great!

Don't think I'll be buying any though. If it was Tennis though...

There isn’t anything in these sets to make me consider buying any of these. It’s a shame Lego haven’t made anything that includes the flags of the participating nations (I accept that it is difficult when the qualification has only just finished) - I would love a set like the old set No 242.

Soccer? C'mon, there is no such sport...
I may buy some of the minifigs second hand.

So Mario and Luigi both get 5 fingers yet Messi and Ronaldo only get four. Hmm...

@markisnot said:
"The... poof-power-shot piece (disappointed if it isn't named something silly like that) looks like it could be fun to use. I could see using it in some Super Hero or One Piece fight scenes. The mini-figs are quite good, but not my thing. "

That piece isn't new for these, it's been in a dozen sets, mostly Dreamzzz, but a few others: https://brickset.com/parts/design-6958

Great news for Soccer fans? (I assume?)

Personally not interested in these at all.

Also I'm in the camp of belief that just because something CAN be made out LEGO, doesn't mean it SHOULD be. I think all of these products would have been better off being produced through other means of production, think trophy companies, maybe detailed action figure companies (for the human models). And I bet the detail would be better, and price less tbh.

LEGO stretches itself ever wider...

I like the use of https://brickset.com/parts/design-6958 in the Highlights sets; makes the players look like they have superpowers. And I cared about soccer, I'd be tempted to get 43033, even if it is a bit overpriced.

@GirlWoman said:
"New lows for Lego to make multiple(!) sets for that one guy after what he did. You know the one. You what."

Actually, no I don't, because I pay no attention to sports that aren't baseball, and I don't even pay *that* much attention to baseball.

@legoguy said:
"I can see some dioramas being created revolving around dramatic flatulence instead of goal-scoring poses, with very little modifying of these official sets.

Very dramatic flatulence, indeed!"

10325 needs this :)

@emq said:
"That piece isn't new for these, it's been in a dozen sets, mostly Dreamzzz, but a few others: https://brickset.com/parts/design-6958"

Fair enough, haven't noticed those. But it looks like @legoguy gets the green clouds from those.

Whoa, two green puppies!

I don't like futebol all that much, but I'll definitely be picking up Messi, Ronaldo, and Vini Jr. (Although mostly only for the Brasil jersey). I like how the power blast pieces represent the kicking, I think the price point is great (Although I'll still wait for a discount). I also like the favela build, I hope LEGO's prepping us for a Brasil or Rio postcard (or, heaven forbid, Sao Paulo)

I'm not into football,

but as a minifig collector, I kinda want a LOT of these !!!!

They all look very messi.

So... soccer players now have their own logos? (top right corner of box)

Ronaldo lost out to Messi again ... LEGO obviously think Messi is the bigger star as they've done more sets for him.

I think the "Messi" sign in 43011 is clipping into one of the corner cheese slopes.

@MVives said:
"So... soccer players now have their own logos? (top right corner of box)"

Messi has had his own logo for 12 tears now. He released it before the Brazil 2014 World Cup. But he was almost ten years after Federer had one.

@CCC said:
"Ronaldo lost out to Messi again ... LEGO obviously think Messi is the bigger star as they've done more sets for him."
And with more pieces!

CR7 will be furious when he finds out!

Good one.....and also look what's going on with that to the right of it, that's even worse.

If you look at the additional (real) pictures of the set, it seems like the whole name plate sits a bit higher, with a small gap underneath. So seems like just a rendering issue.

https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/43011-1/blt66b06d25e176c52b-43011_Lifestyle_build_2.jpg

EDIT: though looking at this one, it sits clearly angled in a way that suggests it doesn't quite fit as it should: https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/43011-1/blt66b06d25e176c52b-43011_Lifestyle_cons.jpg

I am half Argentine, so I am really tempted to get a LEGO set featuring Messi. I hafta show this to my mother! Most of these sets are actually cool.

I have to keep reminding myself that Messi is facing the other way in 43018, rather than not shaved since last world cup.

More messy than Messi.

Bad. But in a funny way.

@MVives said:
"So... soccer players now have their own logos? (top right corner of box)"

I recently learned about that too. I guess they kinda become a brand as soon as they become a little famous. It's super tacky and vain but that goes hand in hand with modern football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq2n-o8oW5s

@BrickHeadzsStrongestSoldieress said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @jsutton said:
" @Kre_O said:
" @Mortimus_Brick said:
"If they do female footballers my daughter would be very interested, but not these guys sorry. "

Clearly not that interested otherwise you'd know about 40634 and Lego being an official partner of the Women's Euros."

It’s not fair to equate the handful of minifigs included in 40634 celebrating the women’s game with the idolisation and hero-worship on display in these models. When I can buy say Lucy Bronze or Mary Earps then I might show more interest. Truth be told, Messi though is an incredible player."
I doubt Lego would design sets just for you alone....

I mean, I feel sad they'll never ever do a set of any legendary TOP Oss player, but at least I do understand why that is the case.
"

"just for you alone" believe it or not, many people actually enjoy and actively engage with women's sports"

Oh absolutely . But I hope you're not suggesting those two you named are anywhere close to the same level of fame as Messi or Ronaldo?

If we would make a top-10 of most famous English football players right now, how high would you rank them?

What an interesting pricing: 43011 you get 500 pieces including unique minifig for 30 euro. With 43018 the piece count has tripled and there is no minifig but the price is SIX TIMES more at 180 euro. Lego accountants are the worst.

Goooooaaaaall.....!!!!

Not seeing a single NFL team or player in this announcement.
Was hoping we might get NCAA teams eventually as well.

@Mosquitosquisher7 said:
"I think the "Messi" sign in 43011 is clipping into one of the corner cheese slopes."

Good catch. You're right, it seems to be clipping through multiple parts.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @GirlWoman said:
"New lows for Lego to make multiple(!) sets for that one guy after what he did. You know the one. You what."

Actually, no I don't, because I pay no attention to sports that aren't baseball, and I don't even pay *that* much attention to baseball."

And I only watch the Olympics. Except the parts involving soccer. And that other style of gymnastics with the circus gear.

Why did they make a USA shirt? Who is it intersting for? I thought soccer wasn't popular there, and, well, I don't see why people in other countries would want a US shirt

Lego will do anything but NOT bring propper fun footbal with minifigures like in 2000.
That would sell more than this shit combined.

@BrickmanNL said:
"Why did they make a USA shirt? Who is it intersting for? I thought soccer wasn't popular there, and, well, I don't see why people in other countries would want a US shirt"

That's sort of what I was wondering.

@BrickmanNL said:
"Why did they make a USA shirt? Who is it intersting for? I thought soccer wasn't popular there, and, well, I don't see why people in other countries would want a US shirt"

Because the US is one of the host countries of the 2026 world cup and, most importantly, a huge mostly untapped market. They're just trying to make it appealing to potential American customers who are probably more likely to buy a set featuring their team.
I don't believe they will sell well at all but I'm just guessing that's the reasoning behind it. I think they should have just made a collectable minifig series like the one they did with the German team some years ago, just with popular players from different countries.

@tkatt said:
" @GirlWoman said:
"New lows for Lego to make multiple(!) sets for that one guy after what he did. You know the one. You what."

I don't think it is a good idea to represent any actual person in LEGO. You never know who will turn out to be a scumbag."

And that extends to characters too. They most likely had to cancel the batmobile set based on The Flash because of how unhinged (let's put it that way) Ezra Miller was.

@WizardOfOss said:
" @BrickHeadzsStrongestSoldieress said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @jsutton said:
" @Kre_O said:
" @Mortimus_Brick said:
"If they do female footballers my daughter would be very interested, but not these guys sorry. "

Clearly not that interested otherwise you'd know about 40634 and Lego being an official partner of the Women's Euros."

It’s not fair to equate the handful of minifigs included in 40634 celebrating the women’s game with the idolisation and hero-worship on display in these models. When I can buy say Lucy Bronze or Mary Earps then I might show more interest. Truth be told, Messi though is an incredible player."
I doubt Lego would design sets just for you alone....

I mean, I feel sad they'll never ever do a set of any legendary TOP Oss player, but at least I do understand why that is the case.
"

"just for you alone" believe it or not, many people actually enjoy and actively engage with women's sports"

Oh absolutely . But I hope you're not suggesting those two you named are anywhere close to the same level of fame as Messi or Ronaldo?

If we would make a top-10 of most famous English football players right now, how high would you rank them?"

There has genuinely been a sea change in the popularity of women’s football in the UK. Both Lucy Bronze and Mary Earps are household names.

I don't care about football or the players one way or another, but the Football Highlights sets are really nicely done. I'd love to see a similar style of vignette for other themes. Trouble is, you know if they did this for Star Wars, say, it would be at double the price, with stickers...

Anyway, given the popularity of football in general and these particular players, it makes sense for Lego to produce them. As always, if you don't like them, buy something else.

So many salty comments.

I think these sets and figures look great!
And price points are good too.

I’m not into football/soccer much at all (but can appreciate the skill, and have attended 2 pro matches this year already), but there’s a couple BILLION people around the world who actively and passionately follow and play!
The World Cup is the most watched event in the world I believe - or up there with the Olympics.

For all you clowns saying these are stupid or limited appeal or a waste of LEGO’s resources & bricks …. Pull your head in, and get over yourself!
They will sell MILLIONS of these sets across the globe, and they will release almost a THOUSAND other sets this year to appease you!… there’s something for EVERYONE in the LEGO portfolio, even perpetually salty AFOL’s!!….

@Hiratha said:
"There has genuinely been a sea change in the popularity of women’s football in the UK. Both Lucy Bronze and Mary Earps are household names."

I think that’s been happening in lots of countries, probably thanks to thr US. We have a law called Title IX, which requires public schools to give girls equal opportunity to compete in sports as boys get. Implementation has not been without its problems, such as whether “competitive cheerleading” can be counted as a sport, or schools counting boys on practice squads towards the total number of girls playing sports for proof of compliance, but it did result in lots of girls being afforded opportunities to play sports when they otherwise might not have.

One of the more favored sports has been soccer. Compared to many other sports, the cost of equipping a soccer team is dirt cheap. Girls were heavily encouraged to take up soccer, because it was an easy path to demonstrating Title IX compliance. With so many girls playing soccer from an early age, they got pretty good at it, especially compared to other nations where women’s soccer is just an afterthought that pops up every four years at the Olympics.

My theory on what happened next is that, with the USWNT basically dominating the Olympics for a few cycles, soccer-loving nations took offense to getting beaten by a soccer-hating nation, and started (or intensified) youth programs for girls, and now the women’s soccer category is actually competitive at the Olympics. Here in the US, the USWNT still gets credit for being utterly dominant in the sport years after that ceased to be true, but the irony is that the US does have the most dominant national team in any sport in Olympic history and they barely get any attention here. The US women’s basketball team has only lost three games in all of Olympic history (the last one in 1992), has won 10 of the 12 gold medals awarded, has a record winning streak of eight golds, and hasn’t even lost a game in major tournament play since 2006. The difference? The world (except the US) loves soccer, but basketball is still most popular in the US. Other nations don’t get as upset when the US takes gold every four years in the Olympics, so there’s less incentive to step up the competition.

Not my thing, so I'll never buy them. But some really neat set designs, colors, and a few unique parts (to my untrained eye, anyway).

@PurpleDave

I think you might be vastly overestimating the importance of Olympic football internationally - particularly in the UK, due to the friction between our usual team set-up (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and the necessity of constituting a Team GB to participate. I think we’ve managed the negotiations twice since ‘72.

You’d be better off leaning on the World Cup as evidence, but frankly, you’re not going to get far without putting people’s backs up: We’ve had determined grassroots efforts to recover the women’s game after the fifty years of FA’s ban since well before the USA team was doing anything, and no-one’s going to love sending credit for that homegrown effort abroad.

As a football and AFOL, I want all the sets that come with minifigures representing real life players or authentic jerseys. Yes, including team USA even if I am not American. Thankfully they're all reasonably priced. The new shooting aura piece look cool and it's always nice to get shinny gold pieces. But I would have preferred a cmf series depicting more legendary players past and present. They would have sold like hot cakes around the world if there's like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Zidane, Brazilian Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, etc

@PurpleDave said:
" @Hiratha said:
"There has genuinely been a sea change in the popularity of women’s football in the UK. Both Lucy Bronze and Mary Earps are household names."

I think that’s been happening in lots of countries, probably thanks to thr US. We have a law called Title IX, which requires public schools to give girls equal opportunity to compete in sports as boys get."
Now you're talking about schools. Cool, not that different as it has been here for decades (most likely just playing together in co-ed teams). Girls have been playing football and other sports forever. And even as adults, on amateur level that doesn't have to stop either. The issue is just that there has always been kinda a glass ceiling that prevented them from going pro. That has changed in more recent years, but that doesn't change there's still a huge gap between the men and women when it comes to the number of spectators, sponsors, media attention, and as a result of that all, money.

And I don't think that's any different in the US? I think it's safe to say WNBA is nowhere close to the NBA. The PWHL apparently only launched 2 years ago? And I have absolutely no clue how if professional handegg or baseball for women exists and if so, how it compares to the men (I mean, the only current player regardless of gender I would recognize is Shohei Ohtani).

And don't get me wrong: I have absolutely no issue with women in sports. We just had the winter Olympics, and in ice speed skating, the women's competition was overall much more exciting than the men's. And in many other (professional) sports it's also pretty much equal, just look at tennis, track & field, gymnastics or swimming. And maybe football and other sports will eventually get there too. But at this point, I bet if you would show 10 random people on the streets pictures of Ronaldo, Messi, Bronze and Earps, at least 9 but probably all ten of them would only recognize 2 of them at most, especially outside of the UK. And as a result I just don't think Lego would sell many sets based on them. And in the end that's the only thing that matters for Lego.

I don't understand the point of making a United States set when football there doesn't work like it does in Europe, and it's quite limited. They could have made the crests in countries where football was born and is at a national level. Furthermore, there are many other great European and non-European players who I hope will have their part in the LEGO sets.

Nice collection of sets. These are certainly a testament to the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo. If these do well, I suspect we may even see Pele, Maradona and more, I hope. I'm not gonna buy any of them, but it will be interesting to see them come to life, like F1 legends. And who knows, it may even draw some older football fans to Lego, who didn't have collectibles like this before.

I'm not a sports fan at all but I love the minifigs for sports teams and their jerseys and highlighting the individual players as minifigs. I do think its incredibly 1 sided though to start a sport line, create 9 sets for it, and then only callout 3 or 4 specific players (Messi has 3 of those sets just to himself). What about all the other players of the sport?

@WizardOfOss:
I’m not aware of any sports played at the high school level between different school districts, where teams are traditionally coed. There have been girls who sued to get on the boys’ teams for various reasons (no girls’ team, girls’ team not competitive enough, etc.), but generally boys and girls events are separate. In some cases, like swimming, the event may be coed, but the individual races are all boys or all girls. Cross country may compete all at once but results can still be separated out by gender. Maybe golf? There, you have men’s tees and women’s tees, so they could compete against each other without being blatantly unfair. And I know at the Olympics, equestrian events are the only ones where men and women compete against each other as individuals, but the horses are doing all th heavy lifting.

Money in sports has certainly been an issue recently. The WNBA is the only one of the four mainstream sports in the US that I could even tell you has a women’s league. I know we also have a national softball team for international play, but I couldn’t even say that much for hockey. Lately, there have been complaints about the WNBA players not being paid the same as the NBA players, but I don’t think most teams could afford to pay _one_ top-tier NBA player’s salary, let alone payroll a whole NBA team. So if the money isn’t coming from ticket sales and merchandising, where is it supposed to come from? Soccer had a big stink about it a few years ago, but there I know more of the specifics. I’d say that, due to their stretch of dominance at the Olympics, the women’s team was probably more popular in the US than the men’s team, so in theory the should have been paid better. But US Soccer gave both teams two options. They could either be paid based on a percentage of overall ticket sales, or they could get a flat fee guaranteed. The men’s team took the points, and the women’s team opted for guaranteed pay. Both made the most profitable decision, based on their circumstances. The US men’s team may not be super popular in the US, but they play against teams that have huge followings. So every time they play an away game, ticket sales are going to be better, and ticket prices can be set higher, so taking points means they’re profiting off the popularity of their opponents. That doesn’t work for the women’s team, so flat fee paid better than sharing the ticket sales would have. And at the time it was offered, both teams picked the best option for their circumstances. But a couple years ago, the women’s team started clamoring for pay equal to the men’s team. I don’t know exactly how that sorted out, but they got sympathy from people who didn’t understand the economics of the situation, an that giving the women equal pay would require subsidizing the team by taking money from ticket sales for men’s soccer, from the government, or from a very generous benefactor. So people were vocal about agreeing the women should be paid better, but nobody was offering to foot the bill.

@Hiratha said:
" @PurpleDave

I think you might be vastly overestimating the importance of Olympic football internationally - particularly in the UK, due to the friction between our usual team set-up (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and the necessity of constituting a Team GB to participate. I think we’ve managed the negotiations twice since ‘72.

You’d be better off leaning on the World Cup as evidence, but frankly, you’re not going to get far without putting people’s backs up: We’ve had determined grassroots efforts to recover the women’s game after the fifty years of FA’s ban since well before the USA team was doing anything, and no-one’s going to love sending credit for that homegrown effort abroad."

The grass roots thing could mean anything. Grass roots movements either need to be massively popular, or they need to attract sources of money, for any real change to happen (and the former frequently leads to the latter). Under Title IX, the federal government forced schools to support girls’ sports. I believe it requires an equal number of sports for girls as they offer for boys, equal funding*, and they have to be able to show some degree of parity between number of participants**. So whether it’s because other nations were mad that the USNWT was beating them, or because they could point to the success produced by Title IX compliance, there was a fairly long stretch of US dominance followed by a lot of other nations catching up and making the sport competitive.

*Many schools sidestep this by running booster programs to fundraiser outside of school budgets, as that money isn’t regulated under Title IX. Communities vote with their dollars about which sports matter more to them, and the two that are most popular are boys’ football and boys’ basketball (this is reflected by the fact that in all my years in high school and college pep band, those were the only two sports we performed for).

**And some schools have have been caught sidestepping this one by counting boys who play on a practice squad as participating in a “girls’ sport”. What that means is you might have a girls’ volleyball squad, but they’ll need an opposing team to practice against. So you sign up students who didn’t make the actual team, and if you can’t find enough girls who are interested, you allow boys to join the practice squad (they only play during practice, so it’s not like they’re sending a girls’ team to compete with a coed roster). And it’s just dishonest to say that a boy on a girls’ practice squad counts as a girl for Title IX compliance, because it means you have less girls participating than boys.

@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss:
I’m not aware of any sports played at the high school level between different school districts, where teams are traditionally coed. "Over here it's not common for schools to compete among each other, that's what we have sports clubs for. Those generally play separated by gender, apart from maybe the youngest teams. And well, apart from obviously korfbal, which is played co-ed on any level, even the world cup.
(if you've never heared of korfbal, well, it would probably tell you enough that of the 12 world cups ever played, we won 11, Belgium won 1, and Taiwan is the only other country to ever even make it into the final once...)

"Lately, there have been complaints about the WNBA players not being paid the same as the NBA players, but I don’t think most teams could afford to pay _one_ top-tier NBA player’s salary, let alone payroll a whole NBA team. So if the money isn’t coming from ticket sales and merchandising, where is it supposed to come from? Soccer had a big stink about it a few years ago, but there I know more of the specifics. I’d say that, due to their stretch of dominance at the Olympics, the women’s team was probably more popular in the US than the men’s team, so in theory the should have been paid better. But US Soccer gave both teams two options. They could either be paid based on a percentage of overall ticket sales, or they could get a flat fee guaranteed. The men’s team took the points, and the women’s team opted for guaranteed pay. Both made the most profitable decision, based on their circumstances. The US men’s team may not be super popular in the US, but they play against teams that have huge followings. So every time they play an away game, ticket sales are going to be better, and ticket prices can be set higher, so taking points means they’re profiting off the popularity of their opponents. That doesn’t work for the women’s team, so flat fee paid better than sharing the ticket sales would have. And at the time it was offered, both teams picked the best option for their circumstances. But a couple years ago, the women’s team started clamoring for pay equal to the men’s team. I don’t know exactly how that sorted out, but they got sympathy from people who didn’t understand the economics of the situation, an that giving the women equal pay would require subsidizing the team by taking money from ticket sales for men’s soccer, from the government, or from a very generous benefactor. So people were vocal about agreeing the women should be paid better, but nobody was offering to foot the bill."Yup, practically the same discussion we've had over here in football. If you play in front of only a few hundred (paying) spectators and barey anyone watches on TV, you can't expect to get paid the same as when you play in sold out stadiums and massive TV viewership. I mean, it's not even like all the men earn the same, my local team probably pays their players less than what I get for a boring office job....

And yes, the women have been playing for big audiences as well. But does that really count if they had to give away most of the tickets for free? Also saw some interesting statistics quite a few years ago. Apparently over 90% of spectators in mens football here in the Netherlands were men. In women's footbal, it was more like 50/50. And that 50% women was in absolute numbers still less than the 10% that watched mens games....

Yet some people thought that they should simply use the money the mens teams earn to fund the womens teams. Because that makes sense....

Now the US has always been an interesting case, with the womens team the top contender in the world, while the mens team is generally happy to just qualify. But looking at the national competitions, I can't help but wonder if the MLS in recent years has mixed things up considerably. I mean, when I hear that teams switch to bigger stadiums whenever Messi comes to town. Did that ever happen when Morgan or Rapinoe came to visit?

Weird.....I do still see an edit button at the post above, but it won't save any changes I make....

One thing I wanted to add: Money ebviously isn't the be-all and end-all when it comes to sport, but it is a pretty good indicator of the popularity. And it's no coincidence Lego picked these specific four players even when there's hundreds if not thousands more they could have picked from.

@Crux said:
" @BrickmanNL said:
"Why did they make a USA shirt? Who is it intersting for? I thought soccer wasn't popular there, and, well, I don't see why people in other countries would want a US shirt"

Soccer, one person in particular might hope, could serve as a distraction from his tanking popularity. I'm not a soccer fan, but if I have to choose between "wagging the dog through sportsball" and "wagging the dog through inciting hate, building concentration-camps, causing oil shocks, incubating world-war and fueling global catastrophe", then go sportsteam I GUESS."

Seriously?!
You are going to mention concentration camps in a LEGO article?!
I think this is a clear case of TDS!
And someone needs a trip to their nearest Holocaust museum - the one in Washington is amazing, and has a photo of my grandfather in an ACTUAL concentration camp - Auschwitz - which he miraculously survived!!
6 MILLION other Jews didn’t, including 1 million just at Auschwitz!
How many illegal immigrants have been murdered in cold blood at your so-called US “concentration camps”?!
I’m guessing the answer is ….. ZERO!

@WizardOfOss said:
"Over here it's not common for schools to compete among each other, that's what we have sports clubs for."

In the US, high school sports comes in two basic flavors. Top players will represent the school and play other schools' teams. For some sports, we even had Freshmen, Junior Varsity, and Varsity teams. Kids who couldn't make the school teams, but still wanted to play, might be able to get into an intramural league, where multiple teams would be formed from within the same school and play only against each other. Where I live right now, there are also travel hockey teams, but it costs a lot of money to get involved with those. And we didn't have anything of that sort where I grew up.

"Yup, practically the same discussion we've had over here in football. If you play in front of only a few hundred (paying) spectators and barey anyone watches on TV, you can't expect to get paid the same as when you play in sold out stadiums and massive TV viewership. I mean, it's not even like all the men earn the same, my local team probably pays their players less than what I get for a boring office job...."

The WNBA can't really call for that, since most of the teams aren't owned by their sibling NBA teams, and a few of the teams play in markets with no NBA team at all. Both the national men's and women's teams are operated under the same roof, though, which is why the push for equal pay got traction.

This isn't a problem in some sports, where the whole event is co-ed even when the individual competitions are not. Stuff like the Gravity Games, X-Games, and AVP beach volleyball feature men's and women's competitions in a single event, so the spectators can watch both, and ticket sales are pooled. But they're also competing as individuals or pairs, so prize money is awarded based on performance, and sponsorships are driven by popularity. Pay disparity isn't driven by gender, but rather by success. I'm sure at their peak, May/Walsh were the highest earning beach volleyball players in the world.

"Now the US has always been an interesting case, with the womens team the top contender in the world, while the mens team is generally happy to just qualify. But looking at the national competitions, I can't help but wonder if the MLS in recent years has mixed things up considerably. I mean, when I hear that teams switch to bigger stadiums whenever Messi comes to town. Did that ever happen when Morgan or Rapinoe came to visit?"

So apparently there were two lawsuits, and some federal action, involved in the soccer pay disparity. In 2019, a few players filed suit because they weren't getting paid as well as the men, but they were outperforming them within their separate leagues (I don't know if the USWNT would be able to steamroll over the USMNT). Most of their case was dismissed in 2020 on the grounds that they'd voluntarily signed a CBA for guaranteed pay vs the USMNT getting a cut of the gate. In 2021, however, two members of Congress introduced legislation to force the USSF to split all international money evenly between the two teams or the US government would defund this year's World Cup event.

I honestly don't know how ticket sales fared for the USWNT, but Rapinoe was already on the decline before she became the "star" of the team. She's the tenth highest scorer in the team's history, but Morgan played three less years and scored twice as many goals, and was still on the team when Rapinoe retired. Yet all the media attention was on Rapinoe during the Tokyo games, not because of her performance on the field, but because of her outspoken politics. I know someone who doesn't watch the Olympics, but made an exception in 2021 for women's soccer because they were the "most dominant team"...except they only took bronze that year. Meanwhile, the women's basketball team won their seventh straight gold, tying the US men's basketball team (1936-1968) for most team golds in any sport from any nation. And you heard almost nothing about them from the media.

@WizardOfOss said:
"Weird.....I do still see an edit button at the post above, but it won't save any changes I make....

One thing I wanted to add: Money ebviously isn't the be-all and end-all when it comes to sport, but it is a pretty good indicator of the popularity. And it's no coincidence Lego picked these specific four players even when there's hundreds if not thousands more they could have picked from."

Funny thing about the way the post button works. If you type in the box, and exceed the post limit, it just cuts your post short when you hit the button. If you copy/paste text that's too long into the box, it won't post anything. If you exceed the post limit in the Edit box, I think it works the same way.

@Crux said:
" @lemish34 said:
" @Crux said:
" @BrickmanNL said:
"Why did they make a USA shirt? Who is it intersting for? I thought soccer wasn't popular there, and, well, I don't see why people in other countries would want a US shirt"

Soccer, one person in particular might hope, could serve as a distraction from his tanking popularity. I'm not a soccer fan, but if I have to choose between "wagging the dog through sportsball" and "wagging the dog through inciting hate, building concentration-camps, causing oil shocks, incubating world-war and fueling global catastrophe", then go sportsteam I GUESS."

Seriously?!
You are going to mention concentration camps in a LEGO article?!
I think this is a clear case of TDS!
And someone needs a trip to their nearest Holocaust museum - the one in Washington is amazing, and has a photo of my grandfather in an ACTUAL concentration camp - Auschwitz - which he miraculously survived!!
6 MILLION other Jews didn’t, including 1 million just at Auschwitz!
How many illegal immigrants have been murdered in cold blood at your so-called US “concentration camps”?!
I’m guessing the answer is ….. ZERO!"

I don't think your grandfather's tragedy is less tragic than the current one, my dude. I think the real problem, is that the world didn't learn from your grandfather's tragedy.

I also don't think your grandfather's tragedy is yours to flaunt. I feel for your granddad, but not for you. Get over yourself."

Reporting FACTS - and entire families wiped out in cold-blood - is NOT flaunting.
I would rather never have to mention it again.

And I wouldn’t, but for people like you, who either minimise the actual Holocaust (or pretend it never happened, despite reams of proof!), or call what’s happening in Gaza a ‘genocide’ when it couldn’t be further from the truth!
Do a bit of research and actually LEARN what is happening there! Not just rely on Tik-Tok or Insta or Facebook for your ‘news’!

I’m sure the comments under this will be totally normal… seriously tho, how have we gotten to comments on the genocide in Gaza from an announcement of new lego football sets.

@TomatoSauce said:
"Where's Lewandowski?!"

He'll be staying at home with the rest of the Poland team.

@Afo_Xwbagot said:
" @SinKiller_Nick said:
" @Afo_Xwbagot said:
"I do hope that behind Vini Jr is not supposed to represent a Brazilian favela. :/"

Looks like it to me. I agree, that's an interesting choice."

Not to be ‘that’ guy, but it does feel kinda offensive that the only think TLG thought to be representative of my country is an underprivileged community.
"

It's not meant to be representative of your whole country, it's meant to be representative of Vini Jr and where he came from, he's spoken about his poor upbringing and favelas before and I believe still has charities that give back to the area he grew up in.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Elrond said:
" @tkatt said:
" @GirlWoman said:
"New lows for Lego to make multiple(!) sets for that one guy after what he did. You know the one. You what."

I don't think it is a good idea to represent any actual person in LEGO. You never know who will turn out to be a scumbag."

And that extends to characters too. They most likely had to cancel the batmobile set based on The Flash because of how unhinged (let's put it that way) Ezra Miller was. "

While I'll agree that representing currently-living people in Lego has the potential for problems, I think that goes away once a person has been dead long enough. I don't expect 71004-5 or 71004-8 to ever become problematic. As for fictional characters whose actors may get up to something unsavory, that's really a question of how easily one can separate the art from the artist."

We have to seperate art from the artist at some point otherwise we can't enjoy anything. The pyramids were built by slaves etc.

@Greendude said:
"We have to seperate art from the artist at some point otherwise we can't enjoy anything. The pyramids were built by slaves etc."

That’s the conventional wisdom, but archaeological evidence suggests the builders were skilled craftsmen and well paid.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Greendude said:
"We have to seperate art from the artist at some point otherwise we can't enjoy anything. The pyramids were built by slaves etc."

That’s the conventional wisdom, but archaeological evidence suggests the builders were skilled craftsmen and well paid."

Interesting, I didn't know that. The point stands though that we can "find" reasons to find anthing unacceptable if we want to.

@Greendude said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @Elrond said:
" @tkatt said:
" @GirlWoman said:
"New lows for Lego to make multiple(!) sets for that one guy after what he did. You know the one. You what."

I don't think it is a good idea to represent any actual person in LEGO. You never know who will turn out to be a scumbag."

And that extends to characters too. They most likely had to cancel the batmobile set based on The Flash because of how unhinged (let's put it that way) Ezra Miller was. "

While I'll agree that representing currently-living people in Lego has the potential for problems, I think that goes away once a person has been dead long enough. I don't expect 71004-5 or 71004-8 to ever become problematic. As for fictional characters whose actors may get up to something unsavory, that's really a question of how easily one can separate the art from the artist."

We have to seperate art from the artist at some point otherwise we can't enjoy anything. The pyramids were built by slaves etc."

The Gauls did most of the work. As is shown in this documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062687/

@Greendude said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Greendude said:
"We have to seperate art from the artist at some point otherwise we can't enjoy anything. The pyramids were built by slaves etc."

That’s the conventional wisdom, but archaeological evidence suggests the builders were skilled craftsmen and well paid."

Interesting, I didn't know that. The point stands though that we can "find" reasons to find anthing unacceptable if we want to."

Well, that’s not saying the Egyptians _didn’t_ have slaves, just that slaves don’t appear to have built the pyramids. That was an unsubstantiated leap of logic. They had slaves, the pyramids took a lot of work, therefore it must have been one guy with a whip and a bunch of slaves dragging a multi-ton slab of sandstone up a ramp. And I think their slavery was different than what we think of today, where they had the growing season off so they could cultivate crops they’d use to feed themselves throughout the year. Of course, now people would probably look at that and say, “Oh, they weren’t even provided with food by their masters,” but I think the difference between having to grow your own food vs someone else’s cotton pales in comparison to being able to live unsupervised with your family for half the year (not that I’m suggesting this was a great situation either, just less terrible).

@Greendude said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Greendude said:
"We have to seperate art from the artist at some point otherwise we can't enjoy anything. The pyramids were built by slaves etc."

That’s the conventional wisdom, but archaeological evidence suggests the builders were skilled craftsmen and well paid."

Interesting, I didn't know that. The point stands though that we can "find" reasons to find anthing unacceptable if we want to."

I’m sure we could, if that was the goal. Should we then ignore all extremely obvious moral issues, simply because with effort we might find a problem somewhere with something else? I don’t think that follows.

(Also, that isn’t what separate the art from the artist was supposed to mean, although it’s so common a misconception it might as well be at this point, like decimate no longer meaning “destroy one in ten”. It was about being able to analyse works without going through the artist’s biography, letters, interviews, etc with a fine tooth comb, but letting the work stand for itself and find meaning in itself when analysing it. It was not a statement that we should ignore any moral failings of the artist forever and always lest it spoil our squee.)

Just when you thought the comments here couldn't get any more stupid....

@WizardOfOss said:
"Just when you thought the comments here couldn't get any more stupid...."

Honestly. I just wished I could click on one brickset article which actually has all the comments talking about the sets, but no… that seems a bit too difficult for some users.

@ArchitectureFan said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Just when you thought the comments here couldn't get any more stupid...."

Honestly. I just wished I could click on one brickset article which actually has all the comments talking about the sets, but no… that seems a bit too difficult for some users."

The Lotso review stayed pretty on topic, to be fair.

The U.S. has 100 professional soccer teams spread over 3 divisions, second only in number to professional baseball/banana ball teams (192). How many professional teams does your country field?

@sotwuser said:
"The U.S. has 100 professional soccer teams spread over 3 divisions, second only in number to professional baseball/banana ball teams (192). How many professional teams does your country field?"

Pro only means you get paid to play. It doesn’t mean they can pay you a livable wage. Minor league baseball players probably need a day job to make ends meet, and I suspect that’s the case for most of those soccer teams.