Thoughts on Friends a year later...

[daisy]

I was wondering what your thoughts/perspectives are on the Friends line now that it has been out for a year, now that misinformation and hype has died down a bit.

Has it been what you expected? Do you think differently about it now? Did it live up to your hopes or fears?

How do you feel it has contributed to the lego universe?

(And yes obviously I like it, but I think people have had valid concerns about it as well, so I am really interested in all perspectives.)

[Mr Copperhead]

I was quite unsure about the line when it was first announced, but once the Friends were released I've been hooked and bought all of them except for one polybag I can't find except on Bricklink from Europe at an exorbitant price. I even bought doubles of the treehouse and I'm thinking of getting an army of Karate Emmas and a few more squirrels. The sets have great variety and I love the fact that we're getting normal stuff that I actually deal with in real life like houses, shops, restaurants, cars, boats, pets, etc. It's not that I don't like the police or the fire departments, but those are two things that I don't really want to deal with in real life! Call me boring, but...

The new parts (especially silverware and other kitchen tools) and animals have been very useful and cute. Part count/dollar in these sets has been very good too. And... it's always good to have new colors!

To top it all off, I really like the minidolls, just need more guys so we can have a slightly more well rounded Hearlake City. But I'll keep buying them even if they keep making just girls.

Overall I completely love these sets Even to the point of putting off other LEGO purchases in order to get more Friends!

[Jargo]

I don't think it's awful but I do think it's still too gender stereotyping in terms of the brick colours. Still at least it isn't all pink.

Some of the new accessory parts are great and I'd love to see them cross over into Lego City in more neutral colours like say, the cutlery in silver.

I also think there's room for more than one male character. Peter must be the most hen pecked man ever. He needs at least one other male Friend.

[Redhead1982]

In general, I like the Friends theme. To keep it brief, I'm still not fond of the ladyfigs. As I bought quite a few of the sets (some even doubles), I had lots of the ladyfigs, but couldn't get myself to actually included them in my MOC (accept for the avatar). I traded them on BL, so I could get more sets (even Friends' sets). On the other hand, I love the new themes introduced with Friends' sets. Having more 'civilian' life is a nice change in everyday City. Also, introducing new colours/parts is fantastic as well. Despite some unusual approach to buildings with magenta roofs, the sets themself look very appealing and provide a nice and colourful selection of parts for MOCing.

[lightningtiger]

What surprised me was the amount of detailed building in it.....totally different from Belville....in fact more complex building in some cases than city. These sets have been selling out every where and girl's still also buy city sets too......Friend's totally has it's place in the Lego universe.

[Maya]

LEGO Friends is pretty much what I always dreamed of having as a little girl. My first LEGO set I bought with my allowance was 6683 Hamburger Stand from 1983, and then with my birthday money I bought 6374 Holiday Home. I bought quite a few of the houses and such from the 80's, and many of the Paradisa sets. I loved them all very much and I still do. But something I've always wished to see more was details that would appeal to girls. The hamburger stand set didn't even come with stuff that remotely resembled food. You just had to use three 1x1 plates in yellow, gray and red stuck together and pretend that was the hamburger! Now in LEGO Friends we have a (somewhat oversized) hamburger, ice cream cones, as well as lovely purses and many cute animal friends!

After Paradisa was discontinued in the 90's, Scala, Belville and Clikits were available for girls, but I didn't like them very much, as the sets from those themes didn't feature minifig-scale houses and accessories. Around the same time I started noticing more and more LEGO sets were geared towards boys and many of them were about battles or stressful situations, so there were very few sets that interested me during the last decade or so. The only exceptions were the Winter Village theme and the modular buildings, and I have them all because they were the kind of LEGO sets that make me happy building and playing with, as I enjoy seeing those cute minifigures doing their own everyday things and living in harmony (and with no evil characters invading my peaceful town/city! ).

When I found out about LEGO Friends, I was really thrilled! LEGO was finally going to make exactly what I've always wanted! I wasn't really worried about the figures not being minifigs. I love the traditional minifigs (especially those classic smile ones), but I thought the new minidoll figures were very cute and perfect for the more modern-looking LEGO Friends world. We just need more male minidolls, and I'll be happy!

I can't express how annoyed I was around this time last year, with all those highly-opinionated non-LEGO-buying people trying to tell what LEGO should or should not do! I didn't join in the controversy discussion, though; I just enjoyed my Friends sets & my modular collection and waited for the online fad of hating the "girlie" LEGO to die down.

Now it's been more than a year since the first release, and I'm just as excited about the Friends line now as last year. I have a copy of every single set released so far and I plan on buying all the future sets as long as TLC keeps producing sets that make me happy like they did 30 years ago!

[TheLegoDr]

I think TLG is laughing all the way to the bank...

As far as the sets, I'm glad they aren't making it girl-oriented only. There are a lot of useful pieces and buildings for any city. But sometimes there is too much pink/magenta for a lifelike city layout. But it is nice getting some pieces in new colors. My daughter and wife love them and we keep picking up sets to set back for our daughter. If she grows into them and likes them, she'll have lots of sets to play with (she's into Duplo and some of my minifigures now). Otherwise I'll have lots of discontinued sets that may or may not increase in value, but Friends fans will want the early sets if they missed the boat I'm sure. Either way, the line is great and it is amazing how sold out it can be around here and everywhere. The aisle rarely has anything left in it. Either the stores can't keep them in stock, or they never replenish the area.

[Darkdragon]

I have to say that as a theme, Friends has pleasantly surprised me. I was fairly excited about it for the colors and the possibility of new "girl oriented" minifig tools. When I first heard about it (the hints), it was in the context of "lots more plants and animals" which was very exciting. The animals specifically are just so adorable!

My biggest fear with this theme when it came was the figures. I was very nervous about yet another different type of figure and was worried it would make the whole theme doomed to failure. However, the figures are being embraced by the community, and the target market seems to love them. I've even grown to really like them

Overall, this theme is I think just what the doctor ordered.

[Cecilie]

I'm mostly very pleased about what they've done with the Friends line, and it's great to see they're cranking out a lot of new sets, and keeping the theme strong. Of course, as an AFOL, I love all the new pieces and colors, but I also think the sets are generally very well made. As others have said, I would have loved to see some more boys in the line, and I've heard some rumours that there are going to be more boys, but no tellings of when. I'm still not really a fan of the minidolls, but they have somewhat grown on me. They are definitely cute, but their lack of poseability is really the most off-putting. I wish they were able to walk, and move their hands.

One thing I really like is that even though the sets are clearly made for girls, they are not overly girly, and they are not trying to make girls appear less adept than boys at building. And it really creates a great addition to Town, which doesn't have more buildings from casual life.

All in all, I'd say it has lived up to my expectations, but I'm still disappointed in the lack of mobility in the minidolls, but I've come to accept them as a worthwile addition that girls like (even I prefer the minifig myself )

[genecyst]

here at home there's an always opened discussion between me and vecchiasignoraceppo about the minidolls. We like a lot all of the sets they've done but the mini-dolls still be something we can't be pleased about. I think with their look as big polly-pocket stuff their perfect for young girls but at the same time we don't like them at all...

To be honest i hate them 'cause they keep me away from the first wave of sets... Doh!!! :)

[Andy D]

In general I like the Friends sets. I believe they fill a niche. I am not a fan of the particular sets (not a fan of open back sets) but I do like the colors which I believe can be very useful. I don't have any yet, but I am sure I will get some, just for the parts.

As for the dolls (err Friends mini figs) I don't find use for them in my projects, but I can see the attraction by some people/groups, and that is good! Anything that keeps LEGO profitable is a good thing.

Andy D

[Hoexbroe]

I have bought lots of sets! Almost the complete first line. -Although I havent bought any of the new ones (oops, that might actually not be entirely true ;-) , -and will only buy very little, unless something totally revolutionary pops up.

I am extremely happy with the new colors!

I was pretty happy at first with the new mini-dolls, whos appearance is a huge advantage from the (very) old and deformed minifig. Alas its lack of articulations and variations has turned out to be a big let-down so far.

I can live with the fixed legs, but I find it intolerable that their hands and/or arms doesnt swivel. They could easily do what is done with the Barbie dolls (no, I dont collect Barbies, but my two 8- and 10-year old daughters do...) which is to attatch the arms in round spherical sockets (I think the Hero Factory uses this system¿?)

The huge variety of pets an cute-looking animals is also a nice touch. Some of the sets I bought just to get a complete collection of all the original series pets.

[Gryphon Ink]

I have two daughters, eleven and four years old. They both love Lego already, but Friends has brought them deeper into the hobby and introduced them both to new things.

The 11YO likes the detailed furnishings in the theme, all the little toilets and drum kits and whatnot. She still likes LOTR and other Lego themes, and would rather build battle mechs and castles than beauty parlors and pet salons, but Friends has also furnished her with real-world characters who enjoy nerdy pursuits like her (building robots, karate, doing magic, huzzah!) and has found a happy place in her heart. We have spent some time showing eachother the new tops and hairpieces in each new wave the same way we compare the different Hobbit minifigs.

The little one has just graduated from Duplo and discovered an amazing passion for Lego, sparked mainly by the bright colors and cute minidolls of Friends. It has been utterly amazing to watch her build with me. We started out with me letting her do a few steps in each set I bought, pointing out what bricks to add and where they go. Now she is reading the instructions by herself, finding the bricks she needs, figuring everything out herself, and I am no longer allowed to build any new sets without her handling at least one of the submodels by herself. Although she is an awesome kid, she is in that highly irritating Barbie/Disney Princess/Polly Pocket/MLP stage that girls seem to be required to pass through starting at age four or five, and Friends has tapped into that gestalt while encouraging her to think constructively, interpret diagrams and work on number skills.

For these positive elements, I have become a massive fan of Friends despite my initial reservations and a few lingering issues. The question in our household is no longer will we buy a new Friends set, but which one of us gets which set.

For my own use as an AFOL, I think the theme has a better ratio of hits to misses than some themes. Some of the parts introduced in Friends are just as useful to me as the specialized parts we see in the CMFs and other new themes, and some of the sets have very cool construction involved. I've got the Heartlake City Pool set on the table in front of me now, and I love it. The way the jacuzzi and the toilet and shower stalls are built is just wonderful, and the overall design flows harmoniously. The submodels don't look like afterthoughts - everything works together. It was fun for us all to build and offers hours of play time for the kids, and yes we did get a beautiful new outfit for Andrea!

I like the minidolls and I can totally understand why TLG made them instead of using standard minifigs. They just touch that Barbie-Polly Pocket vibe and appeal to this generation's girls more than minifigs with their flat faces and blocky bodies. They are cute and feminine without being sexualized. Kids get to change their outfits without it seeming totally obsessed with accessorizing like Polly Pockets. My wife never misses an opportunity to point out that I'm playing with dolls, but I like them almost as much as I like classic minifigs. But I do hope TLG will start to introduce more variety in the minidolls. The current wave has been excellent for introducing a wider variety of clothes and a few new characters, but it would be nice to have some older people and some males in the mix. However, it seems to be standard practice in marketing to girls that the ratio of female to male characters is wildly uneven, and older characters often don't exist at all, so this aspect may not change at all.

It also ticks me off that the minidolls' hands don't swivel. Combined with the lesser problem of the legs, it gives the minidolls much less mobility than minifigs have. But I suppose this is a tradeoff that we get for a more realistic body shape.

As to what else TLG could have done better, I'm not really sure. I was one of the ones who strongly objected to the very idea that there needed to be a "girls' theme", and I still think that a lot of the things Friends accomplished could have just as well been accomplished within the City theme and without so many pastels. A few of the sets, like the purple convertible and the beauty salon, seem to aim for the lowest common denominator in girls' toys, but those sets are more than balanced by other sets that focus on healthy non-stereotypical activities and far less purple. I am happy that TLG has simultaneously been putting more female minifigs in regular Lego themes. We're seeing female police officers and train drivers and warrior princesses all over Lego World this last year, and it's wonderful to me as a father and as a feminist. But I acknowledge that Friends has a special appeal to my daughters and offers a great building and playing experience. I hope it will be around for a long time.

[Pandora]

I think this is a great topic for discussion.

The sets are better than I hoped for; I remember first building Olivia's House, and just thinking the whole set was wonderful. There are so many details, like the inside furnishing and the new bugs, plus it's a really good looking set. I think Friends has moved in a positive direction, with many different pastimes for the Friends to enjoy, although some of them can seem a bit girly. Yes, there's quite a bit of pink (and purple) but with the sets TLG have introduced some wonderful new colours and parts and accessories.

The sets in Heartlake City go further to furnish a Townscape than most City sets, in my eyes. If LEGO released sets for a Veterinary Surgery, a Stables, a Café, a Flying School and all the other activities in LEGO City, then I have no doubt everyone would be hugely excited about them, especially with the furnishing and accessories. I think a lot of people are put off by the pink and the cutesy side (like the animals) not to mention the minidolls. Personally, I find those elements easily removable if they get too much, and the rest of the sets are pure excitement and building joy. There are so many different directions they can take with this line, and I think it's great they have plenty of scenarios that aren't traditionally girly along with the (expected) girly sets.

I don't think anyone expected Friends to not be girly, it's for girls after all, but it could have been so much more saccarine and nauseating. I did expect it to be building on a par with Paradisa (and the rest of Town), and it has certainly lived up to that, but it hasn't been limited to a pastel colour scheme. I expected to become righteously indignant at some of the sets they might produce, but that never happened. I have an awful lot of Friends stuff (as one might expect, really) - I really like it, and I still get excited about the new stuff too.

[Kristel]

I was very excited when the Friends line was first introduced, and I haven't been disappointed since. I think the sets keep getting better and better, offering more diversity (e.g. karate and soccer) and playability (e.g. Mia's disappearing bunny and the ability to rearrange the interior of the pet salon).

From my own perspective, this theme has provided me with a palette of colours that I adore, accessories to bring the interiors of modular buildings to life and inspiration for my own modular buildings. Of the next two buildings I have planned, one draws heavily on the Friends colours and the other is based on one of the existing sets.

My daughter can't get enough of them and I love watching her role play with her Friends. She had LEGO before Friends came out, but she relates to the Friends minidolls far more than she ever did any of the minifigs. While she still builds and plays with her other LEGO (Hero Factory, Cars, City (mostly the vehicles) and Star Wars), its the Friends sets that get most of her attention.

The Friends line has opened up the world of LEGO and all the good things that come with it, such as fine motor skills development and creativity, to a market segment (mostly girls and their Mums) who otherwise may not even have considered buying LEGO. You see them in the LEGO aisle and their eyes light up as they say "Ooh, girl LEGO!". Whether or not you think it is "too girly", this is a good thing for young girls around the world.

I hope that the Friends line stays around for a long time. Given how quickly the sets seem to disappear from the toy store shelves, I think it will.

[Aanchir]

Personally, I have only bought one Friends set, for the hair piece. I swapped it out with the hair piece that came on the wedding table topper for a cousin's wedding. But overall my impression of LEGO Friends is overwhelmingly positive.

The idea of a girl-oriented theme has never really been a disappointment to me, since I've never had a problem with that idea. As a kid, I played with Paradisa sets along with my City sets, and even if I was always SUPPOSEDLY buying them for my mom, they inevitably ended up with the rest of the sets and parts in my collection. Plus, I was well-aware of how imbalanced the gender ratios of the LEGO fan community were, and perfectly understood that it would take more than more balanced gender ratios in the sets and advertising to balance that out. There are a lot of parents and gift-givers who immediately assume building toys are "for boys" and who won't shop for girls outside the "pink aisle". Even one of my friends from school who thought the idea of girls needing their own theme was silly admitted that she hadn't played with much LEGO growing up because her parents wouldn't buy it for her.

The idea that toys had to be "gender-neutral" was laughable to me as a member of the BIONICLE fan community. BIONICLE was always a heavily boy-oriented theme, like the majority of LEGO offerings, and yet there were plenty of girls who found a lot to enjoy in it. I'm still good friends with some of them. So I wasn't under the illusion that a product had to be marketed towards boys and girls equally to have redeeming value both genders could appreciate. I was, however, fully aware of the advantages gender-oriented marketing could have. In elementary school, I was well-aware that gender roles were quite rigid for many kids. A typical recess activity was for the boys to chase the girls around the yard, and despite that I'd rather have been on the girls' team than on the side of those nasty aggressors, all that did was make me a social outcast during these activities. For a boy, being "girly" was a crime, for a girl, you weren't necessarily shunned for being a "tomboy" but there was still a sort of a stigma evident in the word itself, as though you were going against your station. Thus I understood the articles I read about the development of LEGO Friends, in which LEGO employees discussed the way boys and girls sought out gendered interests about when they grew out of the Duplo age range, and that kids didn't care whether nature or nurture was pushing them towards particular play patterns-- they simply embraced gendered play at around the same time as their peers.

I was also aware that past girl-oriented themes had been woefully ineffective. Building Paradisa sets on LDD revealed to me how drab their color schemes were, and how bare-bones the building tended to be. Belville had never had much appeal to me, nor had any "dollhouse theme", and I was aware that the sets were not hugely successful-- no toy store I had ever been in had a strong selection of Belville sets. Clikits was an innovative concept, extending the idea of building further towards craft, but was no substitute for the creative opportunity of classic LEGO bricks.

LEGO Friends arriving at around the same time as I became aware of the gender-defying "brony" phenomenon (and inevitably "joined the herd" myself) gave me another sort of insight into the theme. Reading interviews with the creator of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Lauren Faust, I couldn't help connecting LEGO Friends with her insistence that "for girls" shouldn't be taken as an insult. Clearly, something in a visually-pleasing pastel color scheme could be just as valid as a LEGO City set or superhero comic book full of bold primary colors, and a story focused on traditionally feminine values like beauty and friendship could be just as engaging as one focused on conflict or even friendship's more "manly" moniker, teamwork.

Now, my predictions when LEGO Friends emerged have thankfully mostly been met, or at least there have been signs that the theme is moving in that direction. This year's sets don't limit themselves to traditionally girl-oriented interests, with sets based on sports and martial arts. We haven't yet seen any more male characters, but some of Astrid Graabaek and Fenella Holden's comments at Brickfair lead be to believe we won't be waiting in vain.

What we still haven't seen is the expansion of the LEGO product spectrum to include more diverse subject matter for girls. I'd love to see sci-fi or fantasy themes that target girls in particular, or target girls and boys equally. I'd definitely like to see the "constraction" (buildable action figure) lineup introduce girl-oriented offerings. But this is a slow progress and I'm just going to enjoy LEGO Friends's runaway success and hope it leads to even greater innovation.

It also ticks me off that the minidolls' hands don't swivel. Combined with the lesser problem of the legs, it gives the minidolls much less mobility than minifigs have. But I suppose this is a tradeoff that we get for a more realistic body shape.

Incidentally, at BrickFair, Astrid and Fenella showed off some Friends figure design concepts in a slide show, one of which had swivelling hands. The reason it wasn't maintained was that it made the arms seem bulky, as if all the figures were wearing thick sleeves. Kind of a shame that the posability is weaker in this regard, but as you say it's understandable.

What disappointed me more about the figs, personally, was that despite their reduced leg posability, they didn't do what could have made up for this most effectively: a swivelling waist.

[horizon]

While she does find the buildings interesting for her city my daughter has bought/gotten no friends set due the fact she dislikes the figures.

[Gryphon Ink]

What we still haven't seen is the expansion of the LEGO product spectrum to include more diverse subject matter for girls. I'd love to see sci-fi or fantasy themes that target girls in particular, or target girls and boys equally.

That is one of my fondest Lego-related wishes. Unfortunately, I don't think TLG are ready to take a chance on "feminizing" their precious action themes, but we can hope that change is coming. We are sort of getting there with action girls like Eris and Nya and their excellent vehicles, but I'd love to see more than one female per theme. It's kind of hard to pass the Bechdel Test when there is only one female in your fantasy universe. I'd like Lego themes that took some inspiration from the Dragonriders of Pern (equal opportunity for girls and boys there) or the books of Tamora Pierce (great YA fantasy for girls with loads of talking animals but equal amounts of swordplay and monsters).

A bit off-topic, but I have to say I've watched a few episodes of MLP: Friendship is Magic with my hopelessly addicted daughters, and that is a much better show than I ever imagined it would be. There is some really great humor going on in that show. Too bad MLP is Hasbro, because MLP Lego would be wonderful. I will NOT buy MLP Kre-O!

[ruiomichlet]

I don't think it's awful but I do think it's still too gender stereotyping in terms of the brick colours.