Friends: Welcome to Heartlake City TV Episodes Thread

[Dorayaki]

It's been a pretty long while since Friends strike the market, but its meda advertising side seems not to be discussed yet. I made some searching and there was a thread about one episode, but I think a new thread would bring a more thorough discussion. (Or if there have been other threads, please help me merge them.)

Different from the very popular and long-run action theme series Ninjago and The Legend of Chima, Welcome to Heartlake City isn't a regular TV show. There are currently three full-length episodes, but each episode is divided into ten mini webisodes on the website.

Episode list:

Episode one: New Girl in Town

The original episode is actually the one attracted me the most. It decribes how Olivia got into the Heartlake City affairs, and it showed that the friends were actually not friendly to each other since the very beginning. The main problem was that there were too many things going on in this episode (making friends, competitions, festivals), and I wish the plot writers could give forty minutes (two full-length episodes) in order to detail it.

After those events in the first episode, episode two begins to show the normal side of the friends’ life, featuring a surprise party. Along with the beginning of animal polybag series, this episode also advertizes many pets and pet houses. Despite it’s not a bad episode, generally the “surprise party” is an overused pun that I wouldn’t like to see again.

Something outside the box is that the dolphin cruise storyline began with an academic research rather than a leisure vacation. This story plays a very good role in both ecological education and toy advertisings. Compared with the previous two episodes, this episode isn’t able to advertise more physical products, which may be a pro or a con.

:

These are the most recent official videos, so far there are eight webisodes and they all feature the 2014 spring wave sets. Some of them reused the plot from comic strips. The series do a good job in ultilizing those products that can’t be featured in a long-length story.

Other future updates, see new replies below.

In advertising aspects:

Needless to say, animations based on LEGO themes are all meant to advertise LEGO products. Unlike Chima and Ninjago, currently Friends is more like Hero Factory that would only release one or two episodes featuring a certain wave rather than giving a full-lenth continuous story.

Judging from out physical products, 3185 Summer Riding Camp is the only previous large set that wasn’t actually ultilized in the cartoon story. It had a glimpse in the first episode, but we weren’t able to see how Mia got her trainings in the riding school. As commented, I’d see the horse riding competition get its own episode rather than clashing with other events. Heartlake High, the other iconic building of this theme also appears in two episodes, which is fairly enough.

The next upcoming large set is the Shopping Mall, but we’re not sure if there would be an episode featuring this. Also the jungle rescue series also seems to deserve its own animation story. That means there should be at least three new episodes during this year, but is it what TLC plan to do?

Those we didn’t see in physical sets:

Since the very first episode, there are two non-physical characters, Jacob and Lacy. They happen to represent two elements that we don’t really see in physical sets.

Jacob: this character represents “love interest”. Somewhat ironically, he was the first acquaintance Olivia got after she moved to Heartlake City, but later she spent most of her time with other girls during the competition events, and Jacob’s role in episode one was pretty obscure. Not until the second episode can Jacob prove that he is useful, uh, I mean, he is able to offer helps and share some chemistry with Olivia. In the newest episodes, Olivia also occasionally mentions him in a weird way.

Even though Jacob’s appearance can be physically realized (personal comments: his animation look is pretty creepy to me, many other male characters, even the mayor is more attriactive!), for unknown reasons he has made no appearances in physical LEGO sets so far, while TLG is more willing to introduce minor male characters such as Mathhew, Robert and Julian. I’m not sure if “love interest” is an issue here (it’s hinted that other main Friends also have love intterests), but the way how Friends represent it is pretty obscure. We can see that many girls are interested in the romantic side of Ninjago storyline, and obviously the plot writers do understand this, resulted as the Robooted Romance season.

Oh, by the way, Andrew from the physical set also made a creepy appearance in episode three (while Maya is miserably not), but his role is also almost unnecessary.

Lacy: this character represents “rivalry”. She used to give no respects in competitors, or those who are not in her side. Lacy’s role in the first two episodes are fairly to the point and are also better than Jacob’s. Just like Jacob, while there are lots of generic female characters under this theme, Lacy is not TLG’s choice to be a filler in any of the official sets. Her issue, however, is more obvious than Jacob’s. If Friends sets are meant to show the friendship, peace and love, would a hostile character break the image and is it necessary?

The others: the show also occasionally introduce some interesting minor characters, including the mayor, the male teacher, karate sensei and construction workers. They would have been pretty good seasonings in some of the sets, for example, the mayor could be a host in 41057: Heartlake Horse Show.

Conclusion:

Overall ”Welcome to Heartlake City” is a good cartoon series that parents may let children watch. I’m not very familiar with other girls-oriented cartoon series inspired by toys, which are mostly developed by the largest comeptitor Mattel. Mattel's Monster/EverAfter High and Hasbro's MLP series are all fantasy-related stories, so they're not in the comparisons.

Barbie, one of the modern life storyline, currently has its own web series Life in the Dreamhouse. It also happens to have a brick toy line by MegaBloks, but the idea behind the sets are pretty different. Barbie isn't a schoolgirl so she can just enjoy her fabulous and luxury fashion icon life, while our young girls don't.

Though not being a brick toy line, Polly Pocket also shares some similarities with the series, and its toy has some buildings along with the dolls. However, the series overfocuses on the fun side of "Pollyville", while the life in Heartlake City focuses on "do-it-by-yourself" concepts. Their earlier short cartoon series in 2000s also had some problems with rivalries and blended family issue.

As mentioned in product advertising, even though Friends wouldn’t have a continuous storyline like Chima and Ninjago have, there could be more single stories based on medium and large sets. Ironically, Chima and Ninjago, especially Ninajgo, have a larger fanbase consisted of girls owing to the successful TV series. Is ”Welcome to Heartlake City” able to go bigger in the future in order to appeal those girls too? Or.....

Edited January 6, 2015 by Dorayaki

[Aanchir]

Just watched the episode. It's all right, but I feel like the voices are not very well synced to the animation, which makes things feel a bit awkward. In fact, the animation in general is a bit disjointed, veering back and forth between more cartoony physics and movement and more naturalistic animation. Perhaps it will overcome that hurdle in later episodes. I like the overall visual design though — decent balance between realism and accuracy to the toys. The pacing feels a bit awkward, but the story is compelling enough to keep you interested.

I am not too thrilled with the musical score. It feels a bit generic compared to the music from other shows I like (LEGO Ninjago, The Legend of Korra, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic). But more importantly, it doesn't really complement the animation too well. At times it almost feels as if the music is being queued up by somebody just off-screen, rather than being a part of what's going on on-camera.

I was a little disappointed not to see Olivia's parents. But overall, it was a fun story and I look forward to watching the next episode!

[Dorayaki]

I feel like the voices are not very well synced to the animation, which makes things feel a bit awkward. In fact, the animation in general is a bit disjointed, veering back and forth between more cartoony physics and movement and more naturalistic animation.

I am not too thrilled with the musical score. It feels a bit generic compared to the music from other shows I like (LEGO Ninjago, The Legend of Korra, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic). But more importantly, it doesn't really complement the animation too well. At times it almost feels as if the music is being queued up by somebody just off-screen, rather than being a part of what's going on on-camera.

I was a little disappointed not to see Olivia's parents. But overall, it was a fun story and I look forward to watching the next episode!

The animations and voices were not good enough at first, despite the first episode needed more vivid character moves. I believe that the later episodes would improve.

I agree with the music part. The songs are not too bad, but looks like TLC overadvertise the music part and they asked the plot writers to include one song in each episode. The first episode needs a performance, and the Dolphin Cruise tries to ultilize it in a creative way, but the rest don't seem very reasonable, especially the Sunshine Ranch one. I'd like to see Andrea having more chances in persuing her dream rather than just randomly performing with her friends somewhere on the roadside.

The singing contest was an interesting addition to Ninjago (though not an obvious setting, one member of them also happens to be a singer). Perhaps there should be several more Friends episodes that don't involve music?

Olivia's mother briefly appeared in episode 1, where Aunt Sophie played a bigger role. As mentioned, the animation story has referred many adult characters who have no phsyical appearances. But seriously, there is no adult in the summer camp?

The webisode just updated a short story about the jungle series. It's alittle worrying that there won't be a full-length jungle adventure. Oh, and Jacob is forgotten again.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Dorayaki

[Dorayaki]

Okay, looks like there's no one leaving comments. Whatsoever, hope that you guys can make some comments on the new Friends episode before the return of our Overlord Ninjago Rebooted.

It's surprising (and predictable) that two new official episodes have been declared online yesterday, much like episode 2 and 3 last year. But the question is does TLC decide to make two episodes at the same time every year and not make more of them?

Now here is my comments along with other critiques by episode.

Episode four: Country Girl

Surprisingly it might be the most drama-like episode so far, for featuring a love triangle (not sure what's Mr. Maughan's thought about this), but thankfully the plot writers made it interesting without carrying it too far. Being a typical "city mouse" scenario, it is nice to see how the girls just want to enjoy themselves at first, and later are forced to take chores and eventually suceed to pull out a self-sufficienct life.

In advertising aspects:

Needless to say, this episode is to market the star of the 2014 spring wave, 41039 Sunshine Ranch. In the official canon it's actually run by Mia's grandparents and nobody knows who Liza really is. The grandparents and Marvin the neighbor could be much more suitable choices for this set.

You may also see 41026 Sunshine Harvest and 41027 Lemonade Stand in this episode, which nicely explains why they're in the same wave along with the Heartlake Juice Bar.

Episode five: Emma Dilemma

This episode has..... uh..... many pros and cons IMO. Tanya enters as the new enemy of the Friends, with an even hotter appearance (but can't defeat my beloved Heartlake Mayor aka Solomon Blaze). There was already a Lacy who redeemed herself with two episodes, so another mean enemy sounds like boring old tricks from plot writers, much like a Sunset Shimmer after Trixie. I personally think Tanya could just be portrayed as a leader who is born to be Stephanie's rival, but she doesn't necessarily have to look like a bad girl.

Another problem is Stephanie's highlight. She's been featured in a row of two episodes. It's not good to have her facing personality problems in such a very short time. (Meanwhile, Olivia and Andrea's roles are pretty minor).

But despite this stereotypical beginning, this episode still pulls out very well by having different portraits on Emma. Being overshadowed by Stephanie, she struggles with helping friends or finding a team that can really really listen to her. Tanya, despite having mean look and evil mind, didn't play any trick to alienate Emma from Stephanie. Emma's final decision also conclude the story perfectly.

In advertising aspects:

Something really disturbing from this episode is the car parade. Yes, since the series was meant to feature the physical products, the artworks shown in this episode could easily mislead the audience. I think a parade car wouldn't a bad idea for a new Friends product.

41035 Heartlake Juice Bar is featured in both episode four and five, but it just looks like a replacement for the earlier City Park Cafe. 41037 Stephanie's Beach House appears to be the place where Friends finish their work, but unfortunately they didn't acutally ultilize this house. The real star could be 41028 Lifeguard Post (as a smaller set, ironically), which recieves a reference that can really interest the audience.

Generally I don't think this episode make a very good advertising. Among all new Friends 2014 sets, the real problem could be 41056 Heartlake News Van, which should have been used to interview the car parade festival.

Mini Webisodes: Jungle series

There are also several updates for the wbisode series, particularly advertising our 2014 summer wave jungle series. Yes, there is actually an adult supervising the Friends though we can't see him in any set . The episode also explains how the messy Jungle Tree Sanctuary came to our attention.

Though the mini stories aren't bad, I'm not sure if TLC should just close the Jungle case with webisodes instead of 3D CG animation. I'd really love to see Friends Jungle TV episode much like Madagascar (DreamWorks) or Rio (BluSky), but maybe it could be too expensive for TLC.

I think Friends TV episodes are trying to pull out their own stories outside the box of physical products, but on the other hand the products don't really reflect on the stories, much like Polly Pocket's early problem. Some of the advertisings are good, but I hope to see Friends try more things like what Ninjago and Chima do: adding original features to the products in correspondence of the story progress.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Dorayaki

[Dorayaki]

For unknown reason, I haven't seen episode six voiced in English. The very first version I saw was Russian, and a week ago Japanese version released. Thankfully I understand some Japanese. If anyone finds the English version, please inform me here.

Due to the language problem, I just make a brief story summary in order right here.

* Henry, the animal investigator in charge of the camp during

, in fact, is Aunt Sophie's fiance. Also, Matthew, the girls' classmate, is his nephew.

* The girls come to Heartlake Shopping Mall to prepare Sohpie's wedding (the reason why Sophie was having a spa and a bridal shop was there).

* Matthew call the girls and tell them that his uncle is missing in the jungle after he went on a search of "Deep Fall". Olivia tries not to scare Aunt Sophie, so she secretly leaves the mall to the jungle and ask Andrea/Emma to cover it up.

* Olivia, Steph and Mia come to the camp for the first time and do some chores. Sophie sounds the girls out and comes after Olivia.

* Sohpie founds a survival panda cub (Bamboo) but he needs Herny back ASAP. The girls keep on their journey to "Deep Fall" but find nothing there.

* Olivia checks the map, and assumes that Henry actually comes to "Diamond Fall" to find a jewel for Sophie's wedding ring.

* They finally arrive Diamond Fall and meet Henry, but it turns out that Henry is trapped in the rock wall along with a tiger cub (Flame). Her parent is waiting for her nearby. Henry can't leave since the waterfall cut their path.

* The girls close the floodgate, and Olivia designs a rope system in order to transport the cub. Mission complete. Herny is finally able to be back to his fiancée and enjoys his wedding.

The episode is a great cliffhanger and the story is convincible. Though the Friends don't do to much fighting, they focus on their urgent mission and take plans into action. In adverstising, it doesn't only points out several jungle spots, but also highlight Heartlake Shopping Mall in the prologue.

The main problem is that the animals are much more like additional appendage to this story. Friends Jungle was all about rescuing animals and this episode is more about rescuing a human guy. Of course, we've seen several webepisodes surrounding animals so another animal rescue might be tasteless.

Same old problem, obviosuly this episode is released super late and has no advertising effects for common consumers (who are now shopping for 2015 sets). Ninjago cartoon does a better job by releasing the pilot episodes for 2015 series. I think FOLs could have known the backstory better if they can see this episode first.

Trivias and nitpicks:

* Matthew got whitening?

* Jungle Fall looks bigger than the Silver Mine.

* Hey, adult animals do exist! Why not make one for physical Jungle sets and Disney Raja?

*Olivia's parents didn't make it to their sister's wedding.

*Despite in commercials Stephanie wears her new pink visor hat, the regular episodes doesn't make it appear so far.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Dorayaki

[dr_spock]

I recently stumbled upon the Dolphin Cruise episode on YouTube. It made good use of the Dolphin Cruise set in the story. It was fun as I have the boat. This and that looked familiar or I remember building that part of the boat.

[bitbang]

I had no idea they made a show for this, or were lego friends first? When did it come out?

[Dorayaki]

I recently stumbled upon the Dolphin Cruise episode on YouTube. It made good use of the Dolphin Cruise set in the story. It was fun as I have the boat. This and that looked familiar or I remember building that part of the boat.

Indeed, it's relaxing to watch the Friends enjoy their cruise. I personally wish they could also add some City coast ships to this story if it's not restricted too much, but Dolphin Cruise is still the only star of the latter part of the episode.

I had no idea they made a show for this, or were lego friends first? When did it come out?

This series isn't updated periodically, but generally each wave would at least get one episode.

Excluding BIonicle, Ninjago's pilot episodes for their first wave was earlier. Then the beginning of 2012 had Ninjago TV premiere and the first episode of Friends WttHLC.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Dorayaki

[Cagast]

How many episodes are there anyway? I remember only one in the first year of Friends, but there must be something new after that?

[Dorayaki]

How many episodes are there anyway? I remember only one in the first year of Friends, but there must be something new after that?

I revisited previous posts and found out that some links are dead. Feels like LEGO doesn't leave all episodes permanently available for common English speakers. Japanese FOLs seem to be the most favored ones because they have almost every show dubbed in LEGO's youtube channel. Webisode series can be easily found in LEGO's website

As the replies said there are six regular episodes so far:

Ep1 was Olivia and FOLs' very first visit to Heartlake City in 2012.

Ep2, Stephanie's Surprise Party, features the former wave of 2013.

Ep3, Dolphin Cruise, features the latter wave of 2013.

Ep4 and Ep 5 "both" feature the former wave of 2014.

Ep6 features the previous Jungle series.

Oh and by the way, just a note of the newest commercial...

Noah looks more frightening than I thought. If it's also Kai's realworld look, Ninjago fans might just break down.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Dorayaki

[sologuy369]

Would any of you hit that one with the flower shirt on?

[Captain Green Hair]

Would any of you hit that one with the flower shirt on?

What? With a paddle or something you mean?

[sologuy369]

If that's what you want to call it ;)

[DuckBricks]

Just watched all five... It started off as a quest to watch all bits of Lego TV show media, but by the second episode I found myself wanting to see more... It actually is quite interesting. Now I am just waiting for Jungle Adventure to be in English!

[Soupperson1]

I found this from Heartlake Times: http://heartlaketimes.blogspot.ie/2015/01/a-lego-friends-pop-star-movie.html

Looks like Livi is getting a movie, they'll probally tie in all the summer wave in that episode.

[Dorayaki]

I found this from Heartlake Times: http://heartlaketime...star-movie.html

Looks like Livi is getting a movie, they'll probally tie in all the summer wave in that episode.

Not very surprised, although I think the Jungle story also deserves a long-length treat since that could allow a better budget for action scenes. A movie featuring idol sounds like some of those Disney ones based on their TV drama series.

And following the Clutch Powers case, the "movie" would be more likely a direct-to-DVD one.

Meanwhile I also worry about not having any episode for the current spring wave. It doesn't sound good for both not having one or having it late.

About the singers and music videos, it feels like that those videos have bipolar opinions (judging from Youtube scores). I don't hate the songs, but it doesn't really feel like that the "girls" do have interests in LEGO toys. It could be better if LEGO toys are edited into these videos.

I wonder if this recruitment is asking for the singers for Livi and four friends but not Andrea since she already had one in previous stories? But it also feels awkward to hire an unexperienced singer for Livi's role.

[Dorayaki]

It's been quite a long time I haven't watched LEGO cartoons. Perhaps most of you have seen this, but I still make a small review on these.

Episode seven: Andrea's Big Moment

The story is basically a LEGO version of America's Got Talent. But I can't really believe that our heroines choose to do the things just like they never watched the show in order to highlight Andrea.

The positive part is Andrea's inner change and how she overcome her fear of being criticized by professional judges. But perhaps, there are still some minor defects: Andrea had got many chances to perform throughtout the Friends series, so it's difficut to believe that Andrea would fail like this while no other Heartlake citizens root for her. With that said, Tanya's role seems abit abrupt, since Andrea never had a competent rival when she did those public performances.

The main problem, basically not about this episode, is the actual story setting we know from LEGO Friends' Livi series. If some of you keep up with the webisode series (Livi's part mostly began in webisode 20 and 21), the setting is closer to our set concepts: the Friends consist of their own band Heartbeats so that they have a chance to work with Livi. In the TV episode version Livi plays a minor role that doesn't even interact with the girls privately.

It's the very first time that the two cartoon versions show significant difference. And personally, I'd choose the webisode versions in this case, despite that the TV specials had been doing a good job in previous six episodes.

Not sure if this episode is an open ending or we'll actually see more. Obviously it doesn't brings out good advertising effect (especially when Livi shows her dark side.. ). It could be nice if LEGO prepare episode 8 for us to see more Livi&Andrea storyline.

This episode kinda make me wonder if Livi could also make guest appearance in Ninjago series. She definitely has the talent to judge The Royal Blacksmiths.

Edited July 26, 2015 by Dorayaki