>>7170551My friend had some of picrel and it would never fly nowadays. Look how sanitized the Jungle sub-theme is in comparison, which I'm sure is more about getting kids interested in scientific discovery than capitalizing on old stories and images of discovering the "New World." LEGO even got in crap with Bionicle for cultural appropriation, because of their use of Maori words. You know, the interesting thing is that these sets usually spark an interest in young minds. Sure, plenty of kids will never look beyond the surface. But I'm sure the worlds and imagery have inspired at least one kid to crack a book and discern how appropriate and faithful LEGO was, or maybe learn about European exploration and colonialism. Even now with the Arctic theme there are scientists who said it's "too futuristic", and that the real work is actually done with more simple tools, and that you'll never see helicopters lifting whole woolly mammoths out to museums. But hey, it could interest some kids in science. No one looks for the positives. So we'll probably never see an Egypt or a Wild West theme again either.
>https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/21/17375848/lego-city-arctic-exploration-set-mammoth-saber-toothed-cats 