Lego gays
Simon and Dan, better acknowledged as Two Gay AFOLs, are vibrant voices in LEGO fan media, sharing their love for the hobby on social media and at fan events. The pair are also pillars of the Minifig Habitat community and sigfig scenes, helping build society and ensuring that everyone feels welcome. We sat down with Dan (the talkative one!) about the pair&#;s rise and the importance of GayFOL public presence (Gay fan of LEGO) in the hobby.
TBB: Let’s start with the origin of your LEGO journey. When did you first play with LEGO? Undertake you remember your first set? If it was as a child, did LEGO stay a part of your life ever since or did you go through a “dark age”? What brought you back to LEGO as an adult?
Dan (Two Queer AFOLs): Growing up LEGO was very expensive. Playmobil was more popular in Spain so I had more of that. The only LEGO I had was a bag of used LEGO given to me by a family friend. There was a lot of classic room and pirates sets mixed in. Two of my favourite sets that were in the bag were the MTron Ionizer and the Forbidden Island set! I kept rebuilding the sets ti
Lego is about to obtain a whole lot gayer, with the timeless construction toy launching its first dedicated LGBTQ+ Pride kit.
The upcoming Everyone is Amazing set, which launches on 1 June to identify the beginning of Event Month, is based on the colours of the Progress Pride flag. It incorporates black and brown minifigs to reflect the diversity of the gender non-conforming community, and light azure, white, and pink figures to represent trans people, alongside the six colours of the original Celebration flag.
The set was engineered by Lego&#;s vice president of design, Matthew Ashton, who is openly queer . Ashton says &#;I wanted to create a model that symbolises inclusivity and celebrates everyone, no matter how they identify or who they love.&#;
The arrange opts for a minimalist approach, with a cascading &#;waterfall&#; of each of the flag&#;s eleven colours and a featureless minifig to match. The lack of expression or defined gender on the figures is deliberate, to let people to project their own identity onto any of the characters, irrespective of hairstyle or any other gender or sexuality signifier.
Happy Pride Week! Today we continue our celebration of diversity within our LEGO community by shining a light on some previously unheard voices. In my last article, I spoke of what it&#;s like existence an LGBTQ+ LEGO fan from my perspective. As I mentioned then, I am not the representative of the LGBTQ+ LEGO Collective nor do I want to be. What makes us great is that we all fetch different experiences to the table. One of the biggest online groups for LGBTQ+ LEGO fans and their allies is undoubtedly GayFOLs. A thriving online community on Facebook, GayFOLs is currently home to over members form all over the earth. I asked its founder, Bruce H., to tell us a bit about his experience and how and why GayFOLs came to be. I also reached out to members to catch what their experiences have been enjoy in the hobby. Below are their stories, lightly edited for flow.
A LEGO Pride Parade from LEGOLAND in Westchester, NY
Bruce H. | 46 | Los Angeles, CA, USA | Gay | He/Him
As a kid, I didn’t comprehend I was lgbtq+, but from how people treated me, I knew I was different — and that unlike wasn’t ok
Season five of LEGO Masters is underway and the duo of John Walls and Justin Brady-Joyner are still in the running for the LEGO trophy and $,! Hosted by Will Arnett and featuring judges Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard, Walls and Brady-Joyner compete alongside eight of the remaining teams this week in a test dedicated to the highly anticipated feature sequel Wicked: For Good.
Debuting Monday, June 9, the disagree gives each team a mystical spell to inspire their erect. They must skillfully hide the spell-related elements within their creation &#; and each builders theme will align either with their good or wicked side.
Representing Texas and the LGBTQ community, Team John & Justin have been bringing their full selves to every fast-paced, fun challenge every week. John works in PR and Justin works as an organizational consultant, but when they aren&#;t at their day jobs, they have a passion for LEGO.
GLAAD had an opportunity to talk to John and Justin about their Wicked build on tonight&#;s episode, their love for LEGO, and what it means to them repr