A Lego-style figurine resembling an Islamic terrorist strapped with explosives and made by a small American company has caused an uproar among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The controversial miniature figure, created by Seattle-based Will Chapman as part of his BrickArms military fighters line, is a bearded militant with a face-covering hood, a tiny toy assault rifle, a little grenade launcher and plastic bombs that can be attached to an explosives belt.
Lego-Style Islamic Terrorist Figurine Sparks Outrage
A Lego-style figurine resembling an Islamic terrorist strapped with explosives and made by a small American company has caused an uproar among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The controversial miniature figure, created by Seattle-based Will Chapman as part of his BrickArms military fighters line, is a bearded militant with a face-covering hood, a tiny toy assault rifle, a little grenade launcher and plastic bombs that can be attached to an explosives belt.
The character is called “Bandit — Mr. White” and sells for $14.
The jarring toy has outraged the British Muslim organization known as the Ramadhan Foundation, which called the figurine “absolutely disgusting,” according to Sky News.
The foundation’s chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq, complained that the toy is “glorifying terrorism.”
“I don’t think there’s any difference between someone that shouts hatred through a megaphone and someone that creates a doll that glorifies terrorists,” he told Sky.
“As a parent myself, I’m going to teach my children respect for the law and respect for each and every community. These are the lessons parents should be giving to their children — not lessons about weapons and violence.”
Chapman, a father of three who operates the company from the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Wash., bristles at the notion that he is celebrating terrorism.
“We do not sell an ‘Osama bin Laden’ miniature figure,” he wrote in an e-mail to FOXNews.com. “We sell a generic bad guy minifigure with a Ninja scarf head wrap, the same minifigure that we have been selling for over a year now, with no associated ‘outrage.’
”It does not represent anything; it is simply a bandit — a bad guy for the good guys to battle. Attempt to assign it a ‘personality’ only serves to create controversy that does not exist.“
On his Web site, he explains that his 9-year-old son gave him the idea for the toy line, which includes 31 different Lego-style weapons and a variety of military figurines.
He told FOXNews.com that BrickArms is a ”family-owned and family-run business.“
”We started in 2006, when one of our sons expressed an interest in military history and weaponry of the WW2 era,“ he wrote. ”He wanted to recreate scenes from history, with his LEGO bricks and figures, so he and I designed the first of many of our BrickArms miniature toy weapon replicas.“
Other figurines in the line are World War II fighters, U.S. Marines and even a Nazi SS officer.
LEGO issued a statement Thursday saying that the company isn’t associated with the BrickArms toys.
”BrickArms is not licensed by LEGO Group to customize LEGO figures and has no links to the LEGO brand,“ the statement said.
”The LEGO Group is committed to developing toys which enrich childhood by encouraging imaginative and creative play — and does not endorse products that do not fit with this philosophy.”
levik
so to be a terrorist is not a prob, but to make a Lego figurine now THAT’S a prob????
what a idiotic world we live in
legofan
totally not normal. They should remove them from the shelves……
Max
Where is the outrage at the millions of Arab Muslim terrosits around the globe. Let the Arabs shut up altogether or scream at their own.
normal?
“imaginative and creative play”? OUCH!!!
abe
Now this is a good reason to agree with reasonable Muslem protesters.
This is simply a sick way of trying to cash in as they said on an “absolutely disgusting” child’s toy.
IT IS “celebrating terrorism”
Shmuli
I think it should be taken off the shelves on one condition: That parents do not buy Lego pieces or video games that include violence and bad guys. This includes Jewish videos that have “Ivan the shegetz”.
For those who do believe in teaching kids how to beat up bad guys, this is a great addition to the team!
The truth hurts...
You know what they say… “Not every Muslim is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim!”
yehudis
Why post something like this?!?!!
Rochel
They post something like this so Crown Heightsers who live in their bubble will know what’s going on in the outside world. Otherwise, what do you want to post? an article about Shprintsa and dvonya, yenting away, or the discusting Tsinious in Ch or the fights???? You know, your lives and Ch arent as interesting as you think.
Thank you for posting things that allow us to know what goes on in the world and allowing us to make educated chooices. Debates are never bad, they open the mind and allow you to see what goes on around you. Weather you agree with this figurine or not, (which i don’t) everyone is allowed to express their opinions.
Yitzi
I hear outrage from muslims about lego figurines and cartoons….
What about outrage at the REAL Terrorists?????