If you have been following the news about the upcoming LEGO Friends line, you know the sets will come with some very different looking LEGO figures. They are skinny, curvy and very girly. Nothing like the square-ish, stocky LEGO minifigures we are used to. 😀
➡ See the upcoming LEGO Friends sets here: 2012 LEGO Friends Sets
➡ Close-up of the LEGO Friends figures here: 2012 LEGO Friends Figures
For some people it was love at first site with these cuties, for others it was instant suspicion, disappointment, and even hatred. The burning and defining question everyone had though is how the LEGO Friends figures compare to regular LEGO minifigures? How would they look in the same LEGO creation as regular LEGO minifigs? Are they taller? Shorter? And in any way compatible?
So wait no more! A Brickset member from France (see original post here) just picked up one of the #3931 LEGO Friends Emma’s Splash Pool sets – now why would the French have to have these first? 🙄
Here is what she says: “How does the LEGO Friends fig compare? I don’t know Polly Pocket or even Belville, I know Playmobil. The figs are a cross between Playmobil and LEGO. Emma’s got big, big eyes, a sweet face, a raised button nose (!), with a pointed chin (!!). Her hair is rubbery and very detailed with a braid. The LEGO Friends fig’s hair is interchangeable with regular minifigs. None of the other parts are (torso, legs, head).”
Regular LEGO minifigure vs. LEGO Friends figure.
“Beautiful printing on her shirt with a metallic flowery graphic, and her shoes are printed, too. Emma is the same height as the LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 5 Cleopatra, so look at any LEGO female with a wedge-piece skirt and there’s your LEGO Friends fig scale.”
‘The LEGO Friends fig comes in the same number of pieces as a regular minifig; head, torso, legs, hair. Her proportions are the most dramatic difference – she is elongated, with longer arms and longer legs, and skinny like hell. Full articulation everywhere – head spins, arms turn, torso bows – except for one key area: her legs are like Playmobil figs, fully immobile, you can’t do a split like you can with the regular LEGO minifigs.”
- LEGO Friends figure and regular LEGO minifigs with fully interchangeable hair/headgear.
So, there you have it! What do you think? 😉
Here are the links to other posts about the 2012 LEGO Friends sets:
- 2012 LEGO Sets: LEGO Friends
- 2012 LEGO Sets: LEGO Friends Pictures!
- 2012 LEGO Sets: LEGO Friends More Pictures!
- LEGO Friends – LEGO’s Billion Dollar Girl
- Dear LEGO… My Opinion on LEGO Friends
- LEGO Friends Undergo Plastic Surgery 😈
- LEGO Friends Press-Release, Video & More!
- LEGO Friends Available Now! (yes, they are on the shelves!)
Seeing this, my first reaction is, to far away from a “real” LEGO minifig to be considered a minifig…
But my girls will love these I think.
Hey, Maxx! Yes, I think little girls will like these! Heck, I like them too! I’m especially happy that the hair pieces are interchangeable. This will give so much more variety to regular minifig hairstyles (although LEGO has been doing a great job with all the new molds). Anyway I LOVE their hair! 😀
Being a new Lego’s collector I like them both. Maybe the “girls” are thinner to watch their waistlines?
Can’t wait to get a set . When are they do out HERE IN USA ?
Well that hair will be great for female minifigs.m:)
Me, I’m all uggh, I don’t plan to buy any of the Friends line and sets. However, if my daughter spots and wants any of them, that would be the concession. I’ll have to wait later for her reaction. I’m sure she’ll be for having girl figures to play with.
I like how you can change the hair.
I like that there will be new hair options for regular minifigures. Other than that I don’t like how skinny they are or that they’re taller than normal minifigures. I am glad that they’re not too much taller, just in case I want to buy one of the sets and then replace the Friends figure with real minifigures.
They just look so non-LEGO. I mean, I liked Polly Pocket when I was younger and I do find these girls cute. But I want female minifigures.
Why can’t LEGO understand that women just want to be represented in the LEGO Universe – not be sequestered to their own world?!
Oh, wait, I forgot. LEGO doesn’t care much what adult females think. They’re trying to sell toys to little girls. In that case, I’m sure this will be a success, much to the dismay of us adults. 🙁
Thank you, +++ on this comment.
These look too much like Polly pocket crossed with disney princesses. Even that logo up in the article with them in a line screams “Disney princess!” to me.
Also, not only do these look nothing like regular lego, the legs are perma-attached at the feet? So they are sequestering girls, and taking away functionality.
Boo to you lego.
Yeah, I agree. And i am a 10 year-old agreeing so you know. AND a boy. Because i would not only want the hair, I would want more girls to my town. Why can’t they just stick to mimfigures like Paradisa, i think?
Thanks for sharing, Toy! Your feedback on this is very valuable!
You are welcome.
Big thumbs up to Sarah’s comment. If these had been available when I was a little girl, I have no doubt that the grown-ups in my life would have given me Friend’s Lego–and I would have been disappointed and continued to long for the exciting and creative sets that were gifted to my boy cousins.
What’s really sad is that I can see my young daughter (4) being drawn to the these because girl minifigs are underrepresented in the regular Lego sets. This is my real issue with the Friend’s sets; rather than offering more regular sets that are both creative and interesting to girls, Lego created a separate (pink) universe. I don’t think I could bring myself to purchase this barbie-ified Lego.
Sherilynn, although I like the Friends minifigs and have been collecting them just because they are cute, your comment made me think back to my own childhood. And I can tell you for sure that I would have felt the same way as you; I would have had no interest in LEGO Friends. 🙁
Now that I own hundreds of regular minifigures in every theme I like, adding a few LEGO Friends minifigs is just for novelty’s sake, however LEGO Friends would have never started me out on a life-long relationship with the brand, nor would I buy LEGO Friends an masse as an adult. But I have been a tomboyish girl all my life, so I always feel like I’m not the norm. However comments like yours does confirm to me that there is really no need for separate girly minifigs.
For some reason LEGO is convinced that girls need completely different sets than boys. And not just different themes, but also different minifigures. They have been trying this approach over and over again for decades. Time will tell how succesful their latest attempt is going to be. So far what I have heard that the LEGO Friends line is selling extremely well. Is this going to be a passing fad, or will Friends create long-term LEGO fans? Only time will tell… 😉
The first thing I though of looking at the friends is that they would be a good match to one of those monsters from bioshock if you are familiar with the game.
At first I was very upset that the figures were not minifigures. However, the fact that they can change out the hair is enough for me to go ahead and get the ones I was already eyeing for their parts. Also, that beret on the figure instantly made me want to use the figs in some post-apoc MOCs
Jacob, I’m very curious to see what kind of awesome MOCs LEGO fans will use these figures for! 😀
And yes, the hair pieces and parts (not to speak of the colors!) are very nice. 😉
It’s truly astonishing to me that Lego felt they needed to change minifigs at all to get girls’ interest. The girls I know who have been exposed to Lego gravitate toward the minifigs as they are. Yes, they tend not to make spaceships and tanks, but the minifigs themselves are not the problem.
I’m sure they did much more market research than I did, and so, I wish them luck.
From the pics, anyway, the Friends figs look more realistic than, say, the Jack Stone-era Max and Tina, who REALLY looked fake, and were all one molded piece, though they could bend at the hips IIRC. Time will tell how Friends does.
Mike, you make some good points, reminding us that this is not the first time LEGO is using different size figures. I know a lot of people hate the Jack Stone guys and gals, but I like them. Especially their heads! The heads (with a bit of modification) look great on LEGO minifigs! See here: LEGO 4-Juniors Minifig Customization 😉
Maybe i could modify the girl’s heads… will you do a post about that?
Sure, as soon as I can put my hands on a set I will experiment with those girls. 😉
Oh yeah. Good message for the young female audience. If you’re too blocky, you need to change how you look to compete in the market.
Good job, marketing research. Good job.
Slow clap. Just for you.
UPDATE: Check out Bloomberg Businessweek’s front-page and editorial; all about LEGO Friends! It will shed some light on how the LEGO Friends figures were born: LEGO Friends: LEGO’s Billion Dollar Girl 🙂
As a girl, I was obsessed with the castle sets. I do think they could have been improved by having some female figures that weren’t witches, but this? This is just insulting.
If I wanted Polly Pockets, I’d buy Polly Pockets.
This exactly.
I WILL NOT buy Barbie LEGO!!!
My daughters love LEGO, especially my 7 year old who couldn’t think of anything else to ask for at Christmas. She likes traditional LEGOs, but she is obviously not advertised to on the boxes and finds herself looking for houses and vehicles a lot. She doesn’t care about battle scenes, she just wants to make stuff.
I would love to see LEGO focus its energies and advertising on what it’s best at…. making stuff to build, not action figures, not barbie dolls, but really really cool blocks. Maybe as a mother of three I’m just too out of touch with what kids want, I don’t know, but even my husband finds all the “action sets” to be unappealing. We are all mixed on our thoughts of this “Friends” thing. Mostly we love the colors of the blocks (I have a very girly princess girl – she is excited the most).
Asking my 7 year old daughter (the core demographic right?), she says she loves the new lab set (as seen on GeekDad), but she wants the traditional minifigs. The new girls don’t really appeal to her. She says they just don’t really look LEGO. My 4 year old, the aforementioned princess girl, likes the new look. She’s not so into LEGO and she would rather play with dollhouse figures when she pretend plays (and many of the knights from the Castle sets get her full attention as she pretend plays with them. My 2 year old son is indifferent at this point.
I’m mixed, but I’ll probably pick up the lab set and other block heavy groups that look cool. As for the minifigs, we’ll keep hunting for those all to rare traditional girls for now, after all the 4 year old doesn’t care that much and she already has Playmobil and polly pocket.
Thanks for sharing! Keep us updated on how your children end up liking these new sets when they become available. 🙂
UPDATE: New post on LEGO Friends! Share your thoughts & opinions!: Dear LEGO…
Just FYI, Lego, I will not EVER buy pink “girly” legos for any of my daughters or neices.
Not ever.
Frankly, my girls are better than that and can aspire to be more than pop stars, socialites, or beauticians.
I had lego sets from 1979 to about 1987. I remember a little pamphlet or book or whatever it was explaining how they made legos in their German plastic factory. It also noted how the female employees, per gov.’t regulations, only made, by law, half of what the men made. Legos have been trying to compete with every other toy line to stay competitive. These girl legos are just an attempt to increase their diversity to all of these other markets. The creative and strange new lego lines did not begin until about the early 1990’s.
As a very tomboyish adult female who generally dislikes the idea of making anything more girly, I am surprised at the amount of people who are angry at this move by Lego. It seems people think Lego is trying to box little girls into set patterns to detract from their individuality, but I see this as the complete opposite. If girls already like Legos, they are still going to play with Legos like they always have. This isn’t going to threaten any young creatives into thinking they HAVE to be like these examples. These sets actually seem to be a fantastic way to try and introduce the product to girls who wouldn’t otherwise spend 5 minutes with Legos, hence the less blocky figures and more girly coloring. I had friends growing up who wouldn’t give Lego the time of day because the people and colors were “ugly.” Well now Lego is adding to their fanbase by catering to those little girls, using sets that mimic many real life situations (I’m LOVING the Inventor’s Workshop, the Musician Stage, the Dog Show, and the Vet’s Office, even if I would change some of the colors to fit them into my cities). But now, once those girls are into these sets, maybe they will decide they need to build something bigger and better for their new “friendfigs” to do (rocket science, anyone?). At the same time, Lego was sure not to alienate their core audiences by keeping the hair and such interchangeable. Amazing move, if you ask me. Personally, I find it more offensive that long time Lego fans see the various lines as “boy” or “girl” sets. I always saw them as Castle, Space, Town, etc. 😉 These are not girl sets, but “girly” sets, for girly girls. Good move, Lego! Maybe I can get my girly little cousin into them now!
Well thought out comment, Kenna. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I agree fully. May 4-yr old loves legos but also loves pink. I have a pink and white lego lighthouse from when I was little that she loves because of the color. I’m glad Lego is finally doing more girly sets that are not trying to sterotype girls. The vet clinic will be our first Friends purchase as she loves playing vet with her animals. I’m sure by Christmas next year she’ll have the whole set.
My MegaBloks UNSC Spartans and Marines are very much looking forward to my investing in some of these.
LOL! 😆
Can we haz pink camo tanks and rocket launchers for lego girlz too? Not enough women are joining the military, so we need to start the recruitment train earlier. Missed opportunity there.
My 7 year old daughter absolutely loves building any Lego model – she has loads all on display around the house. She is delighted by the launch of the friends range and has already bought and made the beauty salon (because her name is Emma and so was the included mini fig!) It is her 8th birthday in 2 weeks and she wants the house and cafe – in fact the whole range! I hope that more Lego in the future will be aimed at both boys and girls especially some of the sets promoting the kids films.
Caron, thanks for sharing! I think your daughter will be delighted with the sets. There are also more sets coming out in the summer. They look really nice! Also, there will be lots of small sets, (basically a girl minifig with a few accessories). They should be available soon. Happy birthday to yoru daughter! 🙂
I am a mother of 14 year old twin daughter’s who LOVED to construct LEGO sets when they were younger, but about two or three years ago they all of the sudden became embarrassed with their Star Wars ships, battlefields, secret bases, Jedi knights, characters and etc. They hid them all! They were afraid they’d be laughed at.
Just tonight I was discussing how much I would love to see more girl-type lego colors and sets so they wouldn’t be embarrassed. That’s when I googled pink lego’s and found this! I had no idea it was coming out.
I’m thrilled, but also wish they weren’t SO “girly?”. I mean, why do girls have to have a hot tub? My daughter’s liked the secret compartments of the Star Ships and how they could create sneak attacks and commence battles. Why do girls items have to be geared only to social gatherings? Do they not have a life? Sitting around in a hot tub is not as exciting as planning an attack on your enemies to steal their plans. (Yes, I’m writing this with one of my daughter’s who misses the LEGOS but wouldn’t dare buy another set).
Overall this should be a success, but don’t limit girls abilities. Creative girls would rather build and create, than eat at a bakery or sit in a hot tub.
L.O., thanks for your comment! This is the first wave of LEGO friends. LEGO is in this for the long haul, so I would expect that they will learn more about what other sets to release in this line as they get feedback from little girls and their parents. Your twins might like Olivia’s inventor workshop as it seems to be closest to their interests. 😉
Thank you, I just looked up Olivia’s inventor workshop. LOVE it! I have to say, there’s nothing like watching your child beam with pride after putting together something like a Millennium Falcon or a complicated Starfighter, so I do hope the sets evolve and become as intricate and challenging as the “boy” sets. These are great though and I will be purchasing several just for fun.
Keep it up LEGO! Thank you!!
I can’t stop thinking about these. My husband always said he would never buy our daughter’s Barbi dolls because he would rather they have more educational toys, but with gifts from people, they ended up with between 75-100 of them by the time they were 9 years old. There was hardly anything else to give little girls until Polly Pockets came out.
Now, I can’t wait to buy these new LEGOs for every little 6 year old girl I know. Just keep making them more challenging please. 🙂
L.O., LEGO Friends especially target girls who have little or no previous experience with LEGO. I think the current sets are challenging enough as an introduction; especially some of the larger ones. As girls get accustomed to the products and the contept of building, more complex sets can be added.
For those girls who are already accomplished builders, LEGO Friends may not give enough challenge, but they may still like the concept for the accessories, the story-line, and the minifigures. They could expand on them and incorporate them in their current LEGO selection.
The point is there is something for everyone to enjoy with LEGO Friends. At least that is my opinion. 😉
L.O., I just posted the currently available LEGO Friends sets. One nice thing about them is that because they are not license’d sets (like Star Wars or Harry Potter), the prices are actually really good (I mean as far as LEGO goes). 😉
Here is the post: LEGO Friends Available Now
You can buy them online (links in the post for best prices) or you should be able to find them at your local Toys’R’Us (make sure you check prices, they tend to jack them up), Target or Walmart. Happy building! 😀
If they’re 14, I actually think it’d be more due to their age than the girl/boy split, and a brand like this wouldn’t help much. The teens is a very changing period in life, and if they fear they’d be laughed at, these sets wouldn’t make a difference.
Not that this is meant as a rundown on the sets per se, just noting that they likely aren’t a solution.
Hakan, that’s a very good point. A lot of kids get into their dark ages around that time, unless they have very strong support. They feel self-conscious as they are just figuring out this growing up thing. 🙂
UPDATE: LEGO Friends are now available! See here: LEGO Friends Available Now! Enjoy! 😉
When my six year old daughter began asking for Lego I was delighted to begin searching for a few Lego sets that I felt would engage her. I spent quite a lot of time exploring the web site and the toy store. Let’s face it when a good set can be over $50.00 I wanted to be sure that she would truely play with it. I ended up feeling a bit irritated that such a large percentage of Lego is targeted at boys. She won’t be interested in building star wars or space ships so I ended up buying city and creator sets but still felt like my choices were limited. I see that many people seem to think it’s insulting or condescending for Lego to make pink bricks and shapely girly Lego characters marketed to girls. Well as any person who walks down the Lego aisle in a toy store can see most Lego is marketed to boys, yet we don’t seem to be upset about that. Girls and boys are different and they play differently, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. When my daughter was much younger I bought her toy cars, she didn’t smash them up, she had a mommy car a baby and a
daddy car. That solved the nature vs nurtue question for me. Lego is great for brain development I have heard that it helps build mathematics and problem solving skills. So if my little girl will spend more time playing with Lego because it more attractive to her. I say bring on the pink beauty salon or lavender science lab and don’t be afraid to make it challenging Lego.
Actually, I’m really not a fan of most of the sets they sell in stores. People have mentioned the glorification of violence a few times in the comments, and the wish that there were more “neutral” sets that weren’t so cringingly marketed towards one or the other gender (as though poles and holes were the only things that define children’s tastes and play styles).
There are quite a few really good LEGO sets, but most of them aren’t stocked by stores. Have a look on their website. And when in doubt, a big bin of mixed pieces is always good. There are some that come with instructions to building a few types of houses, so they pull double duty if you want your daughter to learn about building from instructions.
This is a really good point; not all sets are carried by retailers. Toys’R’Us tends to have the best selection, but their prices are jacked up. However it is a good place to check on a good variety of sets and see them in person. Other retailers just carry what they feel would sell best.
So, as you said best is to go to LEGO’s website and check out what is currently available. Also, I highly recommend signing up for the LEGO Catalog. It is free, and it includes a good variety of the sets available, and you will receive a fresh copy every few months. If there is a free shipping offer, you might as well take advantage of that too, if not, you can check Amazon.com, as they always have free shipping for orders over $25, and no tax in most states. Also, their prices tend to be better. So there are some options to get the nicest, gender-neutral and exclusive sets, just need to do a little homework. 😉
I think that the new Lego sets are very well balanced and the mini-figures are cute.
Ann, thanks for the link! Well written post! So far my understanding is the Friends are flying off the shelves. 🙂
Admin, I keep reading of a Lego Mag. if you belong to a Lego club? where/how do I sign up?
Thanks
VIE, we are just talking about the standard LEGO Club Magazine. It is free and you can subscribe here: https://www.lego.com/en-us/life
It is for kids, but it is fun anyway. Has some comics, stories, puzzles, etc. 😉
I love this theme. I don’t care that the figures are different. They are still lego. People who waste time being offended by them should REALLY GET LIVES! I really wonder why people get offended so easilly by things like this. My best answer is this: “Because people are morons! morons! morons!” Rat from Pearls Before Swine. I hope these sets sell really well, and I will definitely buy a few! 😀
I believe the reason is because people are nowadays becoming princesses
I had to eat shoe on my stance on Lego Friends…we also did a comparison on the mini-figures…
~Lisa
Lisa, great post! I appreciate your honesty! 🙂
They should have made the legs independently posable. Other than that, it’s a great platform. Scale compatibility with minifigs is the single best decision. I hope they stick with it for the next 10 years.
These have already come out in Canada and these are so dumb! (in my opinion.) Because I’m not a girly-girl (and everyone thinks I am) I’m probably gonna get a bunch of the sets for my birthday!
If you don’t like them you can always sell the figs on eBay and just keep the sets. They are full of great colors and elements. 😉
frieds
ik ben echt een fen van jullie
groetjes lize !
😕 😕 😕
I believe that’s Dutch for:
“I’m really a fan of you (plural)
Greetings Lize !”
For what it’s worth…
I don’t like that the friends figures aren’t fully compatible with other figures. rounded, taller, minifigures would have been just fine, they didn’t have to be small, dainty, and mostly incompatible.
I just stumbled upon your blog post from 3 years ago. I was really excited to buy our daughter the new Frozen “Elsa’s castle” Lego set and was fully expecting the figures to be the original (regular) mini figs. There’s something so cute about the way Lego has been able to create all the Star Wars characters, Hobbits etc. in the stumpy gloriousness of the original mini figs. Anyway, I just took a close look at the Frozen Lego set on-line and my disappointment in the Anna and Elsa figures not being the cute, simplistic, stocky original figures led me to a google search which brought up your post. The only “girly” lego set we’ve bought our daughter to date is the Cloud Cuckoo Palace set and I just adore the little figures, which are the original shape. I haven’t bought her any of the Disney Princess or Lego Friends set and didn’t know the figures were different until now. I’ll still buy our daughter the Frozen set but I do wish Lego hadn’t felt the need to thin out the girly characters.
MJ, yes, the Frozen Castle is a very lovely set and super popular with girls. The good thing about LEGO is that if your daughter doesn’t like the mini-dolls she can just switch them out to regular LEGO minifigures. Please note that the hair-pieces are completely compatible with regular minifigs, so all she needs to find is a torso and legs. It is an easy fix. And she may end up liking the mini-dolls too. They are very cute. Have fun playing! 😉
Friends dolls aren’t quite the same height as an old minifig with skirt. Without hair, the friends doll is 1 thin brick taller. (The Cleopatra hair is thicker than most hair) And unfortunately they don’t fit nicely through some basic doors (I have doors from an old universal building set and the friends dolls are too tall for them) I am getting used to the shape of them, but i wish they had made them the same height as the minifigs!
Yes, I agree that it would be nice if the Friends Figures would be the same height as regular minifigs. I guess they are like the younger generations in real life who are almost always taller than their parents. 😉
Good to know that I can use the Friends sets with the normal figures, as expected by the looks of the pieces. Getting to use their hair with normal figures is cool, too.
I got the pop star stage, getting a drum set, guitar, and keyboard for the regular figures. And, the supermarket.
Now, I know I want all of the pop star sets for my planned one, or two children to play musicians.
Jeanette, yes, the pieces and accessories are exactly the same as in regular LEGO sets. And yes, the hair-pieces are interchangeable as well, although some look better on minifigs while others look better on mini-dolls – but that’s just my opinion. 😉
I think that the new Lego sets are very well balanced and the mini-figures are cute.
Please note that the hair-pieces are completely compatible with regular minifigs, so all she needs to find is a torso and legs. It is an easy fix. And she may end up liking the mini-dolls too. They are very cute. Have fun playing!
Why should Lego friends
or any other girls Lego sets be a thing
I am currently 11 born 2010. my brothers and I shared their lego city until my 5th b-day party I got some lego friends, I fell in love I actually feel fully represented as they showed unique features such as females did get their breasts although I would’ve liked if females were more commonly shown in other sets. That being said the lego friends figures were more realistic as they weren’t solid blocks and were proportioned properly and had noses. All up 4.5 stars out of 5
I fully validate your opinion @Child whilst I do disagree I find your arguments insightful and well structured. I wish that Lego kept the females the same throughout all sets as it increases compatibility. I second that earlier it was stated hair is compatible throughout all set types. Hope everyone is doing well during the pandemic. Wishing you all a safe and happy 2022.