A new LEGO set has many Star Trek: The Next Generation fans feeling happy, but Wil Wheaton isn't laughing about it. The set doesn't come officially from LEGO, but MiniFigs.me recently released a set of LEGO figures based on the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which includes Wheaton's character, Wesley Crusher. Unfortunately for Wheaton, the LEGO figure is depicted as a crying child.

Wil Wheaton was asked quite a bit about the set on Twitter and he made it clear, via a lengthy post to his personal blog, that, "I love that this set exists. I love that enough people want to do TNG LEGO to create a market demand for these figures." However, he isn't in love the with the depiction of Wesley Crusher, because he feels that it's unfair to the many Star Trek fans that actually identify with the character. Here's what he had to say about it.

"In this particular custom set, though, Wesley is depicted as a crying child, and that's not just disappointing to me, it's kind of insulting and demeaning to everyone who loved that character when they were kids. The creator of this set is saying that Wesley Crusher is a crybaby, and he doesn't deserve to stand shoulder to minifig shoulder with the rest of the crew. People who loved Wesley, who were inspired by him to pursue careers in science and engineering, who were thrilled when they were kids to see another kid driving a spaceship? Well, the character they loved was a crybaby so just suck it up I guess."

Wesley Crusher has always been a character that many Star Trek fans take issue with. In his post, Wil Wheaton explains that he understands some of these issues, but he blames it on the very poorly written version of the character that was featured during Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1. He also says the crying version of the unofficial LEGO minifig is "insulting to all the kids who are now adults who loved the character and were inspired by him to go into science and engineering, or who had a character on TV they could relate to, because they were too smart for their own good, a little awkward and weird, and out of place everywhere they went." Wheaton also says that he understands this figure is funny, from a certain perspective.

"I want to be clear here, because I know that future members of my Twitter blocklist will send me a cropped image of LEGO Wesley crying, or tell me to shut up because I'm making too much of this: this isn't about me. This is about thirty years of people kicking Wesley Crusher around because writers in the first season of Next Generation (who gave us such memorable gems as Angel One, Code of Honor, and The Last Outpost) didn't write him as well as writers did in later seasons, and once the fandom narrative was fixed, no amount of Final Mission or Starfleet Academy-like episodes could change it. I understand that a lot of people will see the humor in this, and I respect that. From a certain point of view, it is very funny. I don't think that this was done this way to be mean/ If anything, it's just lazy."

The Star Trek: The Next Generation figures can be purchased individually, but the image that got the most attention was the group photo of the Next Generation cast. Wesley Crusher certainly stands out in that picture, but you can buy an individual version of the figure that has a regular, non-crybaby face. You can check out the LEGO figures for yourself below and you can read Wil Wheaton's full post about them over at WilWheaton.net.

Star Trek Next Generation Wesley Crusher Lego 1
Star Trek Next Generation Wesley Crusher Lego 2
Star Trek Next Generation Wesley Crusher Lego 2