LEGO Friends on shelves

[Joebot]

Thanks for the mini-review.

I have to say, this Friends theme looks fantastic. The rest of the early 2012 sets (Town, Batman, Dino, Star Wars, etc.) look like boring, unimaginative repeats of previous years. More fire trucks, more TIE Fighters, more dinosaurs ... ugh. We've seen it all before.

The Friends theme feels NEW. There are actual BUILDINGS, with some fun new pieces and new colors. Yeah, regular mini-figs would have been awesome rather than these weird hybrid figures, but the fact that the hairpieces are interchangable with mini-figs helps quite a bit in that regard.

I know TLC has been trying to figure out the "girl problem" for years now (Paradisa, Clikits, Bellville, Scala), but this theme looks like they may have finally found a formula that appeals to their intetended target audience, AND has some wider appeal as well.

[surrideo]

Saw a few of these sets in John Lewis(UK)earlier today. I agree with whoever said about Polly Pocket. The figures are somewhere between the Toy Story ones and Duplo but best of luck to Lego in cracking a market they have little footing in.

I'd probably pay more attention to them if I needed the unique colours or had daughters.

They are definitely fresh in comparison to some of the "boys" lines

[dunamis]

Interesting. My two daughters (7 and 10) were very interested in these. I've been watching for them here in the US to pick a couple of them up for Christmas presents.

Thanks for the mini review. They look promising enough.

[Mr Meleca]

Saw a few of these sets in John Lewis(UK)earlier today. I agree with whoever said about Polly Pocket. The figures are somewhere between the Toy Story ones and Duplo but best of luck to Lego in cracking a market they have little footing in.

I'd probably pay more attention to them if I needed the unique colours or had daughters.

They are definitely fresh in comparison to some of the "boys" lines

Thank you very much for the tip, I am desperate to get one of these for my 4yo daughter.

If someone knows were to find it here in UK, please write here...

BTW I will run central london tomorrow and will report if I get some news...

[Zarkan]

Friends has officially redeemed itself in full. Before this review, it was already looking much better to me, at least from a piece standpoint, but with this reveal that the Friends figures are not only made up of multiple parts but are also compatible with regular minifigures, I now fully support this theme.

[Darth Hagrid]

CAKES! :D

Lovely little set indeed. Not a fan of the figures, but since the hairpieces fit regular minifigs, there's a good reason for picking them up! I'll certainly buy a few (when my funds are back after my Superheroes raid...) for the parts and the hair. The figures will go into the minifig box.

I feel exactly the same.

[iamded]

That's a huge plus that the hair pieces fit nicely with regular figs. That, combined with the fact that these sets include interesting colours make these sets actually pretty appealing. Thanks for sharing the news and pictures with us, daoudbazaar!

[legodac]

Being 49 and a grand father to seven, the girls this year are steering away from Lego, they want Barbie, so this is Lego's answer, not bad, but a little late for 2011. I suppose Bellville will suffice, nice job Lego.

[blueandwhite]

I'm thrilled that the new hairpieces are minifig compatible. I only hope this is the case with all of the hairpieces because these sets look like they are going to be amazing parts packs! I really hope these do well for LEGO.

[Laura Beinbrech]

I was debating about whether or not to get any of these sets or not (I was particularly interested in the lavender sports car... I might just have enough pieces to do a version of it in dark green and black), but this sold me: while I'm not a fan of the "Polly Pocket" figures, the fact that the hair is removable and works with regular minifigs sold this for me... I'm probably going to at least get the sports car and Olivia's Treehouse (Olivia's hair piece is a better match for my girlfriend's sig-fig than the current one I'm using, and that larger, gray cat is perfect for "Nimitz", Honor Harrington's tree-cat)...

[ka.lego]

I'm thrilled that the new hairpieces are minifig compatible. I only hope this is the case with all of the hairpieces because these sets look like they are going to be amazing parts packs! I really hope these do well for LEGO.

Here's a link to a pic of a better fitting Friends hairpiece on a minifig from one of my fave AFOL blogs, thebrickblogger.com.

Looks great. I'm hoping this does well too, so much so that it branches into these figs doing more imaginative/fantasy play in addition to the realistic stuff. I could see how these figs appeal to a different demographic. And, yes, I'm especially glad some accessories are compatible with the traditional minifig.

[LegoFan03]

Why do I have a feeling that Lego could replace minifigures to new ones like this one day?

[Brickity]

Why do I have a feeling that Lego could replace minifigures to new ones like this one day?

NOH! That's never going to happen! And if the hell freezes over, then I'll have to quit this hobby:(

I still want to see a traditional female fig with the blonde hairpiecee :(

[ka.lego]

Why do I have a feeling that Lego could replace minifigures to new ones like this one day?

Doubt it. Too much invested / built around the existing fig. Sure, they've been evolving the basic fig with the fleshtone figs, alt bodies (eg octopus, mermaids, snakemen, etc) and heads (aliens, wind-up robot, snakes, etc), but even this only extends the basic minifig template, which only makes the basic figure more relevant and important. Plus, it's their key piece of unique, identifiable intellectual property since they no longer have the rights to the basic brick. At least that was the impression I got when one of my t-shirt designs raised eyebrows at TLG (but eventually got the go ahead btw). They may add new things like this here and there, but the minifig is a LEGO staple.

But, hey, I'm sure at a certain point the team who was working on Fabuland thought those would be around forever. Eek! Hahaha.

[Shakar]

I initially dismissed this theme as "just another line for little girls", but having learned that the hairpieces are compatible with minifigs made me ecstatic. I can only hope they begin to use these new hairpieces in regular minifgs, or that at least they become available on PaB, because I sure want some samples of them.

[Wolvarie]

Massive untapped market not given enough time by Lego in the past. I have two daughers 5 and 7 and they love to build with all my bricks making their own houses and parks for the girl minifigs to play in. This looks better than the Beville line that I bought for my 7 year old for Christmas last year. They are going to go crazy when they see the picture tomorrow when I show them. My wife is going to go NOT MORE LEGO!!!! ;)

[stelek]

@daoudbazaar - where is your "local shop"? which country? you wrote "EUR 75" so I assume it's somewhere in Europe. Maybe I can still buy those for my daughters this Christmas :)

[Sid Sidious]

This review has totally turned me around on Friends. I liked the new colors and pieces (I'm looking at you hedgehog), but I thought the minifigs would be like Belville and wouldn't come apart.

[lorax]

I have a feeling this theme will do well for Lego. My facebook is full of feeds from people about this theme (from AFOLs) and it is also getting interest from the parents of girls I know.

I know my daughter will love it (we have playmobil hedgehogs that live in Legoland at the moment, she loves the cute animals that playmobil makes and the Lego ones are even cuter).

[legodac]

I'm wondering if anyone here thinks there is something wrong with posting a so called "Leak". I for one don't have a problem, though there are sites out there that believe this is really wrong, I hope this isn't off-topic, I have had a strange last few days. OH, yes, the sets are really cool, I need more pink in my collection.

It almost looks like Lego is returning slowly to the original Lego figure, remember the big round heads, bricks for torso and the original Technic for arms and legs.

Trust me, next we'll see Ken.

[Lyichir]

Trust me, next we'll see Ken.

The closest we've seen is Peter, assumedly Olivia's dad, who looks remarkably like Indiana Jones. He's so much manlier than I'd expect in a doll-like figure.

[xtremegoogler]

This article in Businessweek

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/lego-is-for-girls-12142011.html

mentions that the Friends sets are availabe in France at December 15, so my guess is daoudbazaar bought the set in France.

[Hinckley]

Why do I have a feeling that Lego could replace minifigures to new ones like this one day?

That will never happen. One of their last, maybe the last, remaining patents is on the minifig. They protect it very closely. If they deviate too far from the patent, they could lose it altogether. I think we'll see the classic minifig represented for a very long time. No worries there.

[Deeks]

This article in Businessweek

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/lego-is-for-girls-12142011.html

mentions that the Friends sets are availabe in France at December 15, so my guess is daoudbazaar bought the set in France.

Very good article. I didn't realize how much had gone into turning TLG around over the past few years. It is some of these recent changes that brought me back into Lego! Now that I have a daughter I'm liking the look of these new sets and looking forward to many hours of Daddy-daughter lego time

[badboytje88]

These figs would be wonderful for Toy Stories Ken and Barbie!