Everything is Awesome About These Female Lego Figures

At New YorkComicCon last year, Lego set up tables with minifigures sellingevery major characterin the DC and Marvel universes. The problem is they only made a small batch of female figures — which sold out immediately. By mid-afternoon on the first day, girls were still coming up to the booths asking or Batgirl, Supergirl and even some of the female villains; butwere turned away disappointed. In the last few years, Lego has responded to criticism of its boy-oriented movie franchise toys by creating Lego Friends, a brand for girls where the characters ride horses and go shopping. Flying to the stars is stillboy stuff in Legoland — but maybe not anymore.

ArtistMaia Weinstockis a strong advocate for women and girls in STEM fields, andshe creates Lego minifigures of some of the women who inspire her: astronaut Ellen Ochoa and scientists Carolyn Porco and Chien-Shiung Wu. Shehopes these figures can inspire girls too. Herwork was on display in Austinfor the Go Ahead and Do It exhibit last fall.

Framed Lego minifigures of scientists Carolyn Porco and Chien-Shiung Wu

(Maia Weinstock/Flickr)

We were pleased to see that some of the figures she created have been frequent guests on our show, such as Harvard physicist Lisa Randall.

Lisa Randall as part of Weinstock’s Lego Scitweeps series

(Maia Weinstock/flickr)

Weinstock’s latest project — which isgenerating a lot of buzz — is Legal Justice League: Women of the Supreme Court in Lego.

Justices Sotomayor, Ginsburg, O’Connor and Kagan on the bench.

(Maia Weinstock/flickr)

They’re not for sale, but you can imagine how they could be posed into action… legal action.

Meanwhile, at The Hall of Justice.

(Maia Weinstock/flickr)