What do mini-figs do on holidays? Part 1

With summer fading quickly or spring emerging and Easter behind us for another year, I have decided to write this blog on the leisure activities of the Lego theme Town. Because, hey, even mini-figs need a break every now and again.


This leisure sub-theme included a total of 33 sets released across 15 years between 1981 and 1996.

Slightly refreshing from my previous post on construction where there were no, or at least no easily

distinguishable and identifiable, female mini-figs, the Leisure sub-theme of Town sets includes both male and female mini-figs going on holidays and undertaking leisure activities. From these sets, the chosen leisure activities of mini-figs ranged from recuperating in holiday cottages and caravans to more adrenaline-filled activities like flying and windsurfing.

It would appear that when undertaking leisure activities, mini-figs tend to be a rather solitary bunch. More than half of the 33 Leisure sets are single mini-fig sets. Only three sets include four mini-figs. Many of the single mini-fig sets represent adrenaline-filled activities including

• Snowmobile
•  Kayaking
• 4WD
• Shark fishing
•  Wind surfing
•  Jet skis
•  RV and speed boating
• Ultra-light flying
•  Derby trotter
• Horse training

Only two single mini-fig sets represent relatively calm activities, lounging at a summer cottage and selling ice-cream.

The gender of the single mini-fig Leisure sets is rather noteworthy. In all but one of the single mini-fig sets, the mini-fig is male. That equates to a ratio of one female to every 15 male mini-figs in single mini-fig Leisure sets. The last time I checked, men didn’t have complete ownership and control over solo activities. Women do in fact partake in solo leisure and adrenaline-filled activities.  
But of the leisure activities for single mini-fig sets described above, I’m sure you can guess which one included a female mini-fig. That’s right it’s the summer cottage.

Male mini-figs are sold as adventurous, as adrenaline seeking and skilled. They are flying the plane. Driving the snowmobile. Sailing the windsurfer. Whereas the single female mini-fig is presented as, although on holiday, located within the domestic space.

Only looking at the single mini-fig sets for the moment, why is it that the male mini-figs get the adventure, why are female mini-figs not given the same primarily role in seeking out adventure. Particularly, when there is no leisure activity listed above that is physically impossible for a female to undertake.

Not only does the shear difference in the number male and female mini-figs in single mini-fig sets send a very strong and clear message about what gender is preferred. But the nature of the leisure activities also sends a very strong message about what can and can’t be done. It not only sets creates cultural standards but it also reinforces cultural ideals about what is and isn’t acceptable gendered behaviour.

The difference in leisure activities for single mini-fig sets constraints behaviour and dreams. It can prevent girl children dreaming and pretending to be pilots and windsurfers. It can prevent them from stepping outside the definitions of their gender determining what it is and what it is not to be a woman.  It can also affect boy children and the creation of what it means to be a man. By almost only entirely presenting men in adventurous and adrenaline-seeking leisure activities it limits their ability to dream to undertake different activities, like sit outside a summer cottage and sip tea. It prevents alternative imagining of what it means to be a ‘man’ and what it means to be a ‘woman’.