On November 11 2023, Sydney’s flagship LEGO store held its long-heralded opening.
I was housebound, but fortunately I have eyes everywhere. Friends who attended the fated launch, sending pictorial ointments to nurse my blues.
With one picture, however, I dropped my phone in disbelief.
The LEGO figure in question? An alleged representation of soccer-juggernaut-turned-humble-Australian-icon Sam Kerr. The problem? Despite LEGO’s boasted range of coloured blocks, the sinister simulacrum’s skin tone is unarguably white. Initially, I questioned whether this was Sam Kerr at all. However, a fateful Instagram story by Matilda’s teammate, Charli Grant, confirmed my suspicions.
I was certain the world would respond with similar outrage. But, as it turns out, I was a tortoise following the Sam Kerr statue news. For even though the Sam Kerr model now resides in Sydney, it was born in July 2023 in Perth, like the icon herself.
Though there is little archival material, I impute that the model was transported from Perth to Sydney Statue of Liberty-style. Unlike Sydney’s understated opening, the grand reveal in Perth was accompanied by a visit from Sam Kerr in the flesh, which allows us to see just how odd the colour discrepancy is.
Oversight, impecuniousness, racism or blindness? I was determined to find out the reason behind the Great White (washing).
First, I had to probe into who pieced together the white Sam Kerr model. Reaching out to LEGO contacts, I was placed on an email referral roundabout for a brief while, and sailed to the inbox of the Brand Manager for The Brickman, a team of LEGO artists. At the helm of this crew is Ryan “Brickman” McNaught, who is apparently one of only twenty registered ‘LEGO professionals’.
The mystery turns on the provenance of the design files. My assumption that she was designed and built by Australian hands was misplaced! Apparently, the design files were imported from the USA LEGO design team, dictating the block choices to represent her skin tone. The Brand Manager’s response made it clear that their hands were tied — when life gives you lemons, build a pallid Sam Kerr LEGO model as instructed.
Limply defending the impostor’s coconut-flesh coloured hue, The Brickman’s contact explained that “colour choices are limited by the physical LEGO pieces available.” A credible excuse, if all other LEGO offerings were like a 1950s television screen. But when faced with a visual assault of colour each time one steps into the LEGO store, tonal austerity is not what comes to mind.
I may never know who is responsible for the whitened design files, and if they have ever watched a Matilda’s game — but I do now know they’d think they were designing a footballer, not a soccer star, and more importantly, cultural icon.
