2023 Friends Rumours, Leaks, Information And Discussion

[RichardGoring]

I particularly like Autumn's house for using plates for the pitched roof, rather than slopes a they normally do. To my eyes it looks better, gives you more space inside, provides more options to do things on the roof, and requires more elegant construction techniques.

The aqua colour for the walls is great too. As is the orange foliage on the tree. The whole thing is just composed very well.

[sylin]

19 hours ago, MAB said:

This is an issue with using somewhat extreme stereotypes to indicate sexuality (if that is what LEGO are doing). People are assuming Olly is gay because he likes sewing and fashion and wears pink. Straight boys and young boys that don't know their sexuality might also like sewing and fashion. And not all gays are into what is often looked at as more female pursuits. The most flamboyant kid in my class when I was a kid is now a father to five by three different mothers, it turns out he wasn't gay!

If they really want to push boundaries with characters and they are defining their sexuality, have a "normal" looking boy - normal as in no extreme stereotypical traits, have him in plain old blue jeans and a shirt, have him be the sporty one and put him in a set with football/soccer training, and have him turn out to be gay in the associated media. A fairly normal looking kid, turns out to be gay. Just like most gay males in real life. Not flamboyant. Not into wearing pink. Not into doll collecting or sewing. Just a kid with interests like most other boys his age. Not really anything to tell he is gay, unless he tells you he is gay.

It will also be interesting to see how far they take the sexuality side of it, as in will they be defining it for the characters. As it is, they have introduced characters with traits but without yet indicating sexuality. If you are a boy and you like fashion, it is OK. You are just like Olly. It doesn't mean you are gay. It doesn't mean you are straight. But there is also the issue of how do they indicate sexuality. Do they have characters pair up and say these are romantic liaisons? If Olly has a friend (that is a boy), is he gay or are they just friends. It gets very messy for a toy line when you have limited characters. If these are being marketed at 5+ kids and those kids are seeing them as representative of themselves then I don't think I'd want media showing two boys kissing, just like I don't want two girls kissing or a boy and a girl kissing.

Something else I'd like to see in future if they really want to be honest about difference is other body types. They have started doing disabilities but everyone is still stick thin. Minidolls (as opposed to minifigures) could easily be moulded to portray larger children too. We have kids with glasses, hearing aids, missing limbs, wheelchairs, neurodivergence, and so on. Lots for children to identify with. Yet weight issues still seem to be hidden in Heartlake.

 

Yeah, wanted to quote this for truth. I'm a bisexual (and yes, I have to say this or people just assume I'm a bible thumping homophobe), and I hate seeing people and characters pigeonholed into stereotypes based on their sexuality and other traits like religion. Sure, there are gay men that are flamboyant and enjoy pink, femenine hobbies, etc, it feels like the media wants to push that this is an inherent trait in gay/queer men. A lot of the time, based on my observation, it leads to a lot of confusion and people feeling they must act a certain way in order to 'be gay'. 

Anyway, all that said, love this new set. Love basically all the new characters, and their designs. Love the color schemes being used. More so than the sexuality representation, I do like seeing disabilities being addressed since I don't see as much of that in most media. I really hope the characters surprise me, and transcend stereotypes, and are super enjoyable in the animations. 

[williejm]

16 hours ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

@Maple I see that you are hoping for non-binary characters. As someone mentioned, you can decide two persons to be two gay dads Or straight / gay freinds OR straight friends or whatever you like to call them. So…you can decide that some named or generic characters to be non-binary yourself in yoru own imageination…. Just saying - I’m bowing out now. 

This is correct, but representation is also important. That’s why eg we have printed cochlear implants on heads with no visible ears. One thing that is certainly problematic is the shooting down of any interpretation someone doesn’t like, that happens way too often in these forums. 

[strangely]

22 hours ago, MAB said:

But there is also the issue of how do they indicate sexuality. Do they have characters pair up and say these are romantic liaisons? If Olly has a friend (that is a boy), is he gay or are they just friends. It gets very messy for a toy line when you have limited characters. If these are being marketed at 5+ kids and those kids are seeing them as representative of themselves then I don't think I'd want media showing two boys kissing, just like I don't want two girls kissing or a boy and a girl kissing.

Given the age group I'm guessing the sets might just portray a character scribbling their crushes name in a notebook, talking to them on the computer or hanging out together. The Friends characters are at most in their early teens, so I think they'll just do the typical first crush kid stuff.

The show might elaborate on it more, but I'm sure it'll be very innocent there too.

 

On 10/28/2022 at 4:33 AM, Killian said:

Also, with his interest in sewing, designer labels and fashion shows etc, I feel like Olly is being coded as gay. 

I got that impression initially, but now I'm not so certain. Leo wears pink and loves to bake. Nova dresses in black and blue and loves gaming. Liann is a skateboarder. It seems like most of the Friends don't conform to the old stereotypical boy/girl interests/norms, so I think it's just as possible that Olly is straight. Maybe in the end he'll turn out to be gay, but for now I'm thinking they're actually just trying to portray a diverse range of personalities/interests.

I think the other interesting thing about the personalities at play is that they've gone out of their way to show that these kids aren't perfect. Autumn is a rulebreaker, Aliya helps people cheat, Zac is a sore loser, Liann often gets in trouble, Nova is socially awkward, Paisley is shy. I appreciate that they're trying to make the characters more relatable and less cookie cutter. They're not perfect, they're just kids trying to figure things out.

[Maple]

Brick Clicker has a list of sets, they include a bubble tea set, donut shop, restaurant, skate park,another house, a large organic shop, a mobile home, several bedrooms and a new big city center set.

13:13 in the video.
 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Maple

[Soupperson1]

I haven’t seen many deep dives into discussing the reboot! So here is an essay length of thoughts from someone who grew up with Friends! :) 

1. I’m going to refer to them as G1 = Generation 1 (2012 - 2017), G2 = Generation 2 (2018 - 2022), G3 = Generation 3 (2023 - ?)  
2. I think the first reboot accomplished very little. I think making the line more diverse was good! It just didn’t really add anything else. Getting rid of all the secondary characters besides Liam and Stephanie parents (because they were in production) will never sit right for me! Especially because it was only a short term fix. Emma as a character has two sets of biological parents and that’s just really weird. It was not giving a big enough marketing push. There were no Ameet books, a decision that still puzzles me given that they are so popular for other themes. H&M, JustHype and Adidas have all had plenty of Ninjago clothes within the last two years. I’m pretty sure there has been one Friends top in H&M. Other household items like storage containers, bottles, lunch boxes, etc. were lacking too. Yes they existed but not in the quantity as before. From 2018 to this year only Olivia and Stephanie received keychains. Then they were slow to incorporate the redesigns into LEGOlands. I know a few didn’t update the performers’ costumes until mid 2019, a whole year after the reboot. Then they and some LEGO Stores kept the old designs of the characters on display. In 2020 they released a new DVD with a compilation of the G1 episodes. :S  It just felt that they didn’t care. I hope this reboot is cared about! It’s fancy press release months out and confirmed ameet books is at least exciting. 
3. I really hope this line celebrates minidolls. Nearly all of the previous upplementary materials for G1 and G2 were all just of their CGI forms. 
4. The lack of send off is just sad. Part of me thinks they didn’t have time to prepare! I think there’s just so many little things like Andrea never getting a horse riding uniform that they could have done if they had known. Santa and the “future sets” are the only suggestions that they knew! The future sets don’t all seem set in the future to me except for Olivia’s. Andrea’s theatre says HLC High suggesting it’s a high school play. So I wonder if these becoming future based sets could have been a quick fix too? At least they were all very good sets. I do think it’s sad we never got anniversary figures, a collection of the five in prom dresses, the girls besides Olivia in their school uniforms and G2 Olivia in her G1 clothing! 
5. I strongly dislike ageing up the girls. I think they should just be casual friends with the new cast. If I had to age up the girls I would have had them be 19 not mother age. I just think giving them definitive futures is closing so many creative doors. :P The one positive I can think of is I like how we have child, teenage, young adult and adult versions of the characters. 
6. I do not like Mia’s adult version. Why isn’t she wearing lime and where are her freckles gone? It’s simple things like that which would be easy to fix. 
7. Mia having a white child seems like a misguided choice. River was one of the few characters from the show to make it into the sets. I understand not everyone marries their high school sweetheart but it’s not like the reboot had much depth in the storytelling department. Then if she wasn’t going to marry River she moves to Africa. I think this was the perfect opportunity for LEGO to have a mixed race lead. 
8. The new cast is too big. 8 (same as the number on this list!) just feels like a lot. I think 6 would be a good number. Then have a bigger focus on secondary characters coming in and out. Livi is still the most notable Friends secondary character because she appeared in so many sets, many of which were devoted to her! I think having characters like that would have been a good idea. I just think group outfits and gimmick sets (Heart Boxes, cubes, the 2017 interest sets etc.) will be harder to implement when there’s 8 characters. There’s bedroom sets rumored already. So maybe they’ll split the gimmick sets across two waves? 
9. Boys! I have wanted a male lead since 2012, but I’ve been saying it’s ridiculous Friends hasn’t had one since Nya became a lead over in Ninjago. Three feels like a lot at once, but I think it’s harder for parents or bullies to say this is for girls when there there is a closer ratio of males! I like how these boys seem to be getting the pastel treatment! I didn’t like how for the vast majority of G1 and G2 the boys outfits did not use traditional Friends colours like the girls’ outfits did. I’m sure many boys playing with these sets will be glad that they can now customise themselves in their favourite colours. 
10. I like how all 6 skin tones are represented! I really don’t think G2 could have survived with just the 3 skin tones, though they could have added three new characters and the number of friends would have been the same. XD  I do think it’s bad optics in a traditionally girl focused theme that the darkest skin tone is a male character. 
11. Why is there no traditional girly girl? None of these characters are wearing pink in their default outfit! Only one of the characters are wearing a skirt too where in both G1 and G2 four were. In G1 all the girls had lipstick, in G2 all but Mia had lipstick and now none of the main cast. Or  I’m sure many children playing with these sets will want an unapologetic girly character and not to give them one in the default looks is just weird. Olly likes fashion, but even he is not opulent as he could be! 
12. No signature colours? I think for kids toys I think this is a good way to keep the characters easily distinguishable. I think G2 went w bit overboard at the beginning with colour schemes for characters but found a nice balance at the end. According to the Brickset interview, they didn’t do this because they thought it was too restrictive. There’s so many variants of different colours I think they could incorporate it subtly. Aliya might wear a light pink shirt and matching shoes in her default outfit but in another she might wear just a metallic pink pin. 
13. No logos either because that was also restrictive? :S Stephanie’s main hobby being sports did not restrict her from baking, taking care of pets, scuba diving, doing ballet or going to the jungle. Just because they have a core interest doesn’t mean they have to be tied to that in every set. I really disagree with their interview there! Also it’s clear most of the characters still do have a defining trait. :/ 
14. Aliya - An Arabic name! She has my favourite new hairpiece. Andrea had the first afro textured hairpiece (unless you count the Afro, which I do not as that character felt more like a costume a la Disco Stu from the Simpsons) so it’s nice to see the new black girl has a new one! The amount of Afro textured hairs must be in the mid to late teens now? I wish she had the darkest skin tone and Zac had medium brown, but it is nice that we have a dark skinned female lead. I like how she’s the brainy one too! I don’t think it feels forced either. The black girl just happens to be the bookworm. The direction of her fashion doesn’t feel very nerdy or smart to me. Obviously she wouldn’t have to wear preppy clothes all the time, but as they’re launching the character I think it would have been neat! :P They already updated her bio to get rid off the ‘she allows you to copy her homework line’. I don’t know how they thought that would go over well? It’s a bit alarming to see them already updating things out of the gate, but hopefully this is just a one time error.
15. Autumn - I really don’t like how her hair parts in the same direction as Aliya. That makes both feel less unique. I still don’t think we have a good general braid piece as this feels too specific. I think this would have been perfect if they pulled all her hair back. I really like how she has dark orange hair. Mia having dark red and red hair always confused me. I really like how many freckles she has too! Autumn wears sand green shorts in all four outfits we’ve seen. But on the plus side she’s the only character with a signature colour - green! All of her outfits have a similar style and fit her outdoorsy personality. I like how they mixed both Mia’s personalities (outdoor adventurer and animal lover) into her daughter. The limb difference is a neat inclusion too. Variety in figures is always a plus. It’s just a shame this will make swapping her tops harder. No one will be able to wear her tops and she won’t be able to wear others.
16. Leo - I didn’t like the Rex Dangervest hair on minifigures OR minidolls as I think it sits too high! I think TLNM Jay hairpiece or classic skater hair would have been better choices, but I guess they picked this to make him more unique? I really like how he’s wearing coral in the three outfits we’ve seen! I like his big bushy eyebrows too! I think food is a good shtick for a LEGO Friends character and I’m glad he is a new guy in town like G1 Olivia! 
17. Zac - His hair mould seems way too similar to the one that just debuted in the park set! And he doesn’t have a shtick that can be translated into LEGO very well. Him being good at everything is a funny commentary on how the Friends characters were in so many different situations. But they were good at everything and still managed to have a core trait. :P Stephanie was the weakest of the G1 characters as her trait was vague - organising, but this is some how worse! He has a video game shirt in one of the renders, so like G1 Stephanie he’s already borrowing from his peers. None of the characters have science or sports as their core trait and I think he should have had one of these! My friend pointed out since his the cousin of Aliya, it’s possible he could be Liz’ son, wouldn’t that be neat! 
18. Liann - I LOVE LOVE LOVE her hairpiece. I’ve been wanting one like that for years! I imagine she’s Emma’s daughter if she’s an artistic East Asian. This means Emma probably didn’t end up with Ethan. I like the added trait of Liann being disorganised, this separates her from Emma and makes her character have a little more depth. I don’t like the colour matching in her default outfit, but the overall one looks really cute.
19. Olly - They clearly have too many characters as fashion, photography video editing should fall under Liann’s art umbrella. I do like how Olly has traditionally feminine hobbies. I think he should have gotten the art trait, Liann sports and Zac science. I love how he’s wearing pastel colours and it’s a boy who’s the one with the bright blond hair. His glasses are cute too! I can’t tell if he’s light nougat or warm tan as he looks darker than our two red heads and paler than Liann. I really don’t like his new hair piece. It just doesn’t feel unique. I think LEGO have become wasteful with their moulds in the recent years! Making him from a working class family is nice as stuff like that isn’t usually discussed in childrens media. However the fact it’s coming from LEGO, a high end toy feels a bit off. 
20. Paisley - Her mother is a late famous singer. I hope it’s not Livi… w The description says she was famous in the 90’s and Livi’s tour sticker says it took place in 2015. However they’re clearly messing around with time if these sets are set in modern day. So let’s see if they really do kill off Livi. :S The shy musician is always a good character for a piece of children’s media. I think her hairpiece has been requested a lot too. Marceline from Adventure Time is coming to a lot of peoples minds but this style of hair is popular in animation. Rosalina and Elizabeth Lioness have similar dos too! I think Paisley should have had dark tan, FYO, medium nougat or medium tan hair. Two red heads when the colour is so rare is a weird choice to me. Dark red doesn’t really look like auburn either. If they needed two redheads she should have had bright orange hair, like her sister. I think more kids would have related to it! Paisley’s fashion seem competitive. Her tops seem to be bright and summery, while her trousers are long and baggy. This new trouser mould also feels a bit excessive. As it’s basically the regular pants, but just covers half the shoes. 
21. Nova - I think it was a great choice to make the nougat character blond and hazel eyed. It makes her stand out from the majority of other LEGO characters with that skin tone. I think her hairpiece is okay. I think they probably could have reused one instead? I am at least glad she has short hair! Her fashion so far feels more tom boyish than traditional gamer girl. I’d be praising this if the other girls didn’t have more gender neutral outfits. There’s a stark contrast between the fashion styles of Zac and Olly. All the girls seem like they could wear the same clothes. It looks like they will be incorporating her love of video games into sets though. That’s a fun trait. She will also be interested in science fiction and horror according to the Brickset interview. I’m curious how that will be implemented.
22. Alternate heads with different facial expressions are confirmed to be coming back! I hope we get more funky ones for females. The only two scared faces we have are male!
23. It looks like hair accessories are slowly going the way of the dodo. I think that’s such a loss. When I got the €10 Mia puppy set at 11 my favourite part other than the dog was the different hair accessories. I had briefly had that with the Kingdoms Queen and her crown. Now I could put a bow on that Queen and make Mia or her dog a royal. My mind was blown when I got Stephanie’s Convertible when it had the packet that included sunglasses, a star, a heart, a differently shaped crown and flowers in addition to the bows. I think these as well as the top hat, party hat, ear phones and cat ears can really add to storytelling. I think they should introduce more representing professions and embrace the ability for boys to wear them. The only male hairpiece with an accessory hole is the birthday suit guy from series 18. Neither Olly’s or Zac’s hairs seem to have accessory holes. :( Aliya’s, Nova’s and Liann’s don’t seem to either. It’s really strange that Paisley’s and Autumn’s do. The teacher in the school also has an accessory pin hole in her hairpiece. So now you’re excluding some characters from additional play. I understand this was to make the pieces more reusable on minifigures where the hole would usually remained infilled and thus look unsightly to some BUT some of these hairpieces already look similar to existing ones. Accessory holes would make them unique and justify the new mould.
24. Animals - I think it’s interesting to see that they didn’t take this opportunity to undo the Friends style of animal. Not only are they continuing to use those old moulds they’re creating more! I think it’s kind of a shame Friends can’t create animal moulds that could be shared in regular minifigure sets. Then the eye prints could set them apart. I just think it’s less exciting now when a Friends animal is produced as we know a regular system one is down the line and it’ll use a less cartoony style. I do continue to like these moulds even if I prefer the minifigure style ones a little more. The Dashaund with missing limbs is such a welcome and unexpected inclusion! The big dogs also look great too. Now we have three sizes of a Friends style Labrador! 
25. Box designs - No more curves and teal. I like these much better, but this is quite the transition. 
26. Logo - I never get why most rainbow logos don’t use yellow! This I don’t like as much as the original. That felt more warm and friendly. :P This font is too sharp. I think they should have changed the colours and butterfly, but kept the font. 
27. 41724 Paisley's House - Isn’t it kind of sad how this set is basically the same as the Juniors set and it’s $10€ more? I think that Juniors one, Stephanie’s 4+ house and this one are all really good first 
    LEGO sets that lend themselves to play. I’m really curious of what the interior will look like. The exterior is almost identical to those previous two sets with different colours, but I suppose why fix what isn’t broken? Lavender doesn’t traditionally go with orange so it’s nice to see them encouraging kids to try new combinations. I don’t think it looks that bad in practice. I’m really excited to see the inside. I do think it says a lot that despite the efforts to be more diverse they still launch with the houses of two palest characters. :/ 
28. Paisley’s sister looks really similar to Ava. I guess they aren’t continuing with her but this almost feels like an imitation. :P The dad looks like a stereotypical dad. I’m glad the budget is extending to the secondary characters as his three new pieces allow him to stand out. I do find it a bit worrisome a bunch of young children will pretend he and Paisley are the parents of her sister. I think it might have been a better choice to have Pasiley’s house be the bigger set as then the late mother could be more easily conveyed? 
29. 41727 Dog Rescue Centre - Here is where I start to be confused by the claims of new colour schemes and architectural designs. This really wouldn’t look out of place in any previous Friends wave. I don’t like the ladder up to the treehouse as it feels out of place when the rest is designed with dogs in mind! I think overall the set looks really fun and I like all the other design choices. I don’t like the colours together here, but that’s just personal preference! 
30. It’s wave one and people including me will want to get all the friends quickly without having to buy eight sets so I don’t mind there’s two included in all of these other sets. I think this set feels like it’s missing a character though? I guess you only need a vet and a patron, but I think someone in a regular volunteer outfit would have been neat. So this lovely looking vet doesn’t have to work the counter in her scrubs! I really do think she looks lovely though. This is our first non light nougat minidoll with freckles! I love the use of medical gloves (I hope this means Cinderella and Belle can get gloves again and Tiana for the first time!), her recoloured hair piece and even the torso design is cute! I love the dogs too. The Labrador apparently will have a smiling variation in another set, I think that’s a really fresh idea! I love the super happy pug too. I think these variants will really stand out to kids and collectors in the long run. :)
31. 41728 Downtown Diner - This is an admitted tribute to City Park Café, which I still think is one of the best Friends sets despite being the first! I think the references are minimal but it’s nice to at least see something. :P I think this diner has very good building techniques for an age aimed at children. It looks equally fun to play with. There appears to be a arcade machine and juke box! I think it would be improved if they some how managed to fit the booth inside (I never liked how the outdoor seating area of the City Park Café wasn’t attached) and the kitchen was a bit bigger. The kitchen accessory pack is another great set of moulds I’m sad to see retired! I really like all the recolours of the set here. My favourite are the dual doors are finally available in a regular transparent!
32. Wouldn’t it have been fun if Marie was included, but as an older woman? That would have also referenced Dottie in the Drifting Diner set! References like that are what I want and I think they’d be so easy to do. I’m curious if the waiter minidoll will be non binary? The interviews said this reboot is going heavy on the representation and I think a non binary character is an easy way to get some without making any new moulds. They could just be a man with long eyelashes and mint hair. But even that’s fun as the most experimental the male characters got in G1 and G2 was wearing purple. :P This waiter is not the star of the minidolls though,that’s Liann’s helmet and hair combo. I think since Friends’ debut 2012 that mould has been in high demand and it’s amazing to see it finally becoming a reality! I think the sassy looking black kitten is also a show stealer. :)
33. 41730 Autumn’s House - I really like the design of this set and the price seems miraculously fair for 2023. I don’t think the colour scheme of the house goes with the architectural design or autumnal colour scheme. Mia’s house with medium nougat, tan, medium blue and purple worked much better. We can’t see much of the interior from the reveal video, but I’m pretty sure Mia doesn’t have a room which is kind of sad. She really did just become a Friends parent. The foal’s stable is made with very few pieces yet still looks decent, I’d love to see more side builds like this looking forward. Sizing things down means more can be included! The rocking chairs are excellent builds! 
34. I think Stephanie felt a bit random in Andrea’s house. Aliya and Leo feel less awkward here as there’s two of them, but I can’t keep but thinking who could have been included instead! If Autumn is an only child they could have extended out her family! It would have been nice to see Mia’s husband/partner, uncle Daniel, Mia’s cousin Ava all grown up, Grandma Ann, Grandpa Angus or Great Grandma Nora! The dog and horse recolours look good. Im glad to see the red bird with a print appearing in more sets too! 
35. 41731 Heartlake International School - I do not like the design of this. The flat roofs, sputtering of random colours against white and random 3D designs are not for me. I’m sure they’ll appeal to some people as it certainly looks unique! Gaudy in my eyes, but unique. The interior from the reveal video looks jam packed! There’s so much variety and so much to do! I really think this set would have been a slam dunk if it just  had a better exterior and colour scheme. I wonder why they don’t include balls that can roll in Friends sets anymore? Those are obviously more fun to pretend to play basketball with than the technic ball. Oh and a medium blue bike seems like one of the worst choices for a new recolour. We need a bike in orange or a shade of purple! Who needs medium blue when medium azure exists? :P 
36. I really like the look of the teacher and it’s nice to see an Asian boy. G2  never had a male Asian minidoll besides Emma’s dad and microdoll brother. 
37. So overall I’m optimistic about where this line is going! It just needs some tweaks and it’ll be flying.

Oh to break up all the text, I really love this image! It just looks so warm and inclusive! :) 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Soupperson1

[Maple]

Lego has added the Hair Salon, $40USD. Very interesting design. I like the flowers on the second 'floor'.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/hair-salon-41743

[TeriXeri]

Looks quite nice, like a larger version of the previous versions  but also those dome windows remind me a lot of Paradisa.

Figures are certainly nice as well, love the flared pants look.

 

More pictures on other already known sets as well, love the diner set, I didn't get the city burger shop(fire) set or more recent sandwich shop GWP, but this is a very nice alternative.

Interior on Autumns house looks fantastic, with a cozy dining table and filled kitchen (new 3 wide door frame for the fridge?), seperate living room and bathroom with a bath instead of a toilet for once.

 

Looking forward for the bedroom sets.

Edited November 17, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Clone OPatra]

These new sets look consistently great. Not that I'll buy any of them myself, but I love seeing that they exist and perusing the details anyhow.

I cannot wait for all these fantastic hairpieces though. Please add them all to PaB LEGO! (I mean I assume they will show up there as Friends hairpieces have up to this point, but there are always weird occurrences with PaB)

Am I correct in thinking that the new main blonde haired Friend with the new shoulder length hairpiece doesn't appear in any of the sets revealed thus far though? Isn't that odd?

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

Looks quite nice, like a larger version of the previous versions  but also those dome windows remind me a lot of Paradisa.

Figures are certainly nice as well, love the flared pants look.

 

More pictures on other already known sets as well, love the diner set, I didn't get the city burger shop(fire) set or more recent sandwich shop GWP, but this is a very nice alternative.

Interior on Autumns house looks fantastic, with a cozy dining table and filled kitchen (new 3 wide door frame for the fridge?), seperate living room and bathroom with a bath instead of a toilet for once.

 

Looking forward for the bedroom sets.

Not a door frame for the fridge, it's a whole fridge/cabinet piece! Also used for the lockers in the school set.

[The Brick Boss]

I think this is the first time I may actually buy some Friends sets. As always, it seems more building oriented this year. 

[Killian]

On 11/15/2022 at 10:11 AM, Soupperson1 said:

 

I strongly dislike ageing up the girls. I think they should just be casual friends with the new cast. If I had to age up the girls I would have had them be 19 not mother age. I just think giving them definitive futures is closing so many creative doors. 

Mia having a white child seems like a misguided choice. River was one of the few characters from the show to make it into the sets. I understand not everyone marries their high school sweetheart but it’s not like the reboot had much depth in the storytelling department. Then if she wasn’t going to marry River she moves to Africa. I think this was the perfect opportunity for LEGO to have a mixed race lead. 

Boys! I have wanted a male lead since 2012, but I’ve been saying it’s ridiculous Friends hasn’t had one since Nya became a lead over in Ninjago. Three feels like a lot at once, but I think it’s harder for parents or bullies to say this is for girls when there there is a closer ratio of males! I like how these boys seem to be getting the pastel treatment! I didn’t like how for the vast majority of G1 and G2 the boys outfits did not use traditional Friends colours like the girls’ outfits did. I’m sure many boys playing with these sets will be glad that they can now customise themselves in their favourite colours. 

Why is there no traditional girly girl? 

The limb difference is a neat inclusion too. Variety in figures is always a plus. It’s just a shame this will make swapping her tops harder. No one will be able to wear her tops and she won’t be able to wear others.

Leo - I didn’t like the Rex Dangervest hair on minifigures OR minidolls as I think it sits too high! I think TLNM Jay hairpiece or classic skater hair would have been better choices Olly - Making him from a working class family is nice as stuff like that isn’t usually discussed in childrens media. However the fact it’s coming from LEGO, a high end toy feels a bit off.  

Alternate heads with different facial expressions are confirmed to be coming back! I hope we get more funky ones for females. The only two scared faces we have are male! 

Animals - I think it’s interesting to see that they didn’t take this opportunity to undo the Friends style of animal. Not only are they continuing to use those old moulds they’re creating more! I think it’s kind of a shame Friends can’t create animal moulds that could be shared in regular minifigure sets.

I do think it says a lot that despite the efforts to be more diverse they still launch with the houses of two palest characters. 

 The dad looks like a stereotypical dad. I’m glad the budget is extending to the secondary characters as his three new pieces allow him to stand out. I do find it a bit worrisome a bunch of young children will pretend he and Paisley are the parents of her sister. 

 I’m curious if the waiter minidoll will be non binary? The interviews said this reboot is going heavy on the representation and I think a non binary character is an easy way to get some without making any new moulds. They could just be a man with long eyelashes and mint hair. But even that’s fun as the most experimental the male characters got in G1 and G2 was wearing purple.  

I think Stephanie felt a bit random in Andrea’s house.

It would have been nice to see Mia’s husband/partner,

 

Lego is about using your imagination, there's nothing stopping us from mixing our original friends mini-dolls in with the new cast as similar aged characters. When they changed Olivia's race, I still used both Olivias together and just pretended a new girl with the same name had moved to HLC. I'll be adding some of the G1 teachers to the new school so Ms Hale doesn't die of exhaustion.

Yeah, having Mia and River be Autumn's parents would have been a good opportunity for Autumn to be mixed race, but maybe another character whose parents we haven't seen will turn out to be mixed race? I like how Autumn and Paisley seem to have single parents since so many children grow up with one parent and can feel represented. I low key hope that Mia was an accidental teen mother who made the best of that situation and showed that you can still thrive and raise a child well in that situation.

There's a pink haired traditional girly girl in a skirt working at a stereotypically girly hairdressing job in the new sets. I'm glad Olly seems to be working there too, since there's no "male" alternate hair piece he's obviously not there to get his hair did.

I feel that Lego missed an opportunity to have Paisley and Autumn be sisters, with Paisley's dad and Autumn's mum having divorced each other and each divided the children between them as that happens in real life and would have been a catalyst for some relatable storyline drama.

Yes! Main character boys! Such good representation!

You can still swap tops between characters, people don't seem to realise you can pull the arms off the minidolls and switch them around like you can with minifigures. I feel like there's enough skintones now to make this easier.

I wonder if we'll eventually see a two handed Autumn with the left arm printed to look like a prosthetic arm, or even get a new prosthetic arm piece that can fit onto her left arm? I'd hate to see her left out of some sets based around activities that would be dangerous to attempt with just one hand.

I'm glad they're continuing with the alternate faces, it always felt weird when the characters were super happy at discovering injured animals etc.

Just swap Leo's hair.

I'm interested to see how Olly trying to be flamboyant on a working class budget will play out. Imagine an "Olly does Drag on a budget" set/episode, maybe where the girls all lend him stuff.

There's no reason you can't use Friends animals with regular minifigures. I use Friends animals with them way more than I use actual minifigure animals. Plenty minifigure themes have more cartoony faces nowadays anyway.

Yeah, Lego likes to focus on paler characters, they seem to think that darker skinned character focused sets won't sell as well. It took them 9 years to give Andrea a house, and then they shoehorned in Stephanie because they didn't think an all black lineup of characters would sell. They didn't even give us the important character of the Wakanden Queen in the current Black Panther: Wakanda Forever sets because they apparently daren't take a risk with too many black characters. 

I hope Charli is non-binary. They are in my headcanon now. 

I hope if Charli becomes someone's love interest, it's with someone other than Olly. I wouldn't want to see them reinforce the idea that someone who behaves outside of traditional societal norms can only connect with someone else who doesn't buy into mainstream ideas of how gender should be represented. Make one (ideally all) of the more stereotypically "normal" characters be open minded and non-judgemental.

Didn't Lego say they'd be representing Down's Syndrome and Autism as well? I wonder which characters will reflect those traits in the new media? I'm so excited for the new show and the new look and storylines in the Lego Friends comics we get here in England.

 

I know Lego didn't intend for it, and I'm kind of joking, but this picture makes me feel that they didn't think through the inclusivity fully in this particular instance. The black kid is the one good at basketball, the gay kid isn't doing so well with sports, the differently abled kid seems to be stressing at their ability to defend the basket and the Asian kid isn't even caring about the ball. Talk about playing into stereotypes. Though, I suppose pointedly avoiding stereotypes can kind of draw attention to those stereotypes, so I'm not worried. Lego does seem to have insight into representation and inclusivity this time around. I'm so excited for the positive direction Friends and City are going in.

 

[TeriXeri]

12 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Not a door frame for the fridge, it's a whole fridge/cabinet piece! Also used for the lockers in the school set.

Yeah I see it now, new cabinet piece with built in shelves. 

Reminds me of the now 50 year old Homemaker cabinets, but of course at a different scale.

Also there seem to be ridges in the cabinet itself for possibly sliding in drawers.

Edited November 17, 2022 by TeriXeri

[DragonElves]

I’ve just been having a mooch around on the Lego play site. In the friends section it says Autumn’s mum (Mia) has a horse ranch, so I’m guessing we’ll have that in a future set, especially since Aliya has an interest in horses and probably how she became friends with Autumn. Also Nova has turn up jeans on, I wonder if we’ll get a new leg design (like we have with Paisley) as I don’t think we’ve had minidolls with turned up trouser before just shorts?

[Killian]

There's never very much discussion about Lego Friends on this site, maybe one reply to a thread every few days or so on average. Same with some other threads about different themes. Does anybody know of any other, more active, online Lego forums where the discussion is a bit livelier? 

[Murdoch17]

4 hours ago, Killian said:

There's never very much discussion about Lego Friends on this site, maybe one reply to a thread every few days or so on average. Same with some other threads about different themes. Does anybody know of any other, more active, online Lego forums where the discussion is a bit livelier? 

Forums, in general, are sadly in decline due to social media taking it's place. EB is (as far as I know) the most used and most recognized.

[The Brick Boss]

1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said:

Forums, in general, are sadly in decline due to social media taking it's place. EB is (as far as I know) the most used and most recognized.

Yeah! Most Lego fans I know are either on YouTube or Instagram - mostly the ladder of those two. 

[Killian]

So... I just realised.. This year in the 41717 Giraffe set, the calendar says 2022.

Assuming that Mia went to Africa straight after graduating and before having her daughter, Autumn... We can assume that set 41730, featuring an older Mia with her teenage daughter must be at least set in the year 2033 at the very earliest.

I wonder if Diana from set 41334 will show up in any sets as her grown up self? It'd be a cool nod to the history.

Also; recurring characters Dash, Chico, Rumble, Twister, Pepper, Cookie, Toffee, Luna, and maybe Bella (depending how old she was originally) are probably all dead in the new timeline.   

Wonder who'll be the first to MOC a Lego Friends Pet Cemetery  

Anyway, I doubt Lego have a strict timeline in mind, but it's fun to morbidly speculate 

[Murdoch17]

4 hours ago, Killian said:

Wonder who'll be the first to MOC a Lego Friends Pet Cemetery  

I don't think a Pet Cemetery is a good idea to make, as the pets might not stay dead... Then again, a zombie apocalypse might just put some new life into Heartlake City! 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Murdoch17

[Killian]

19 hours ago, Murdoch17 said:

I don't think a Pet Cemetery is a good idea to make, as the pets might not stay dead... Then again, a zombie apocalypse might just put some new life into Heartlake City! 

Zombie MiniDolls would be amazing! I wish the Elves or DC Superhero Girls themes had continued and given us more monstrous bad guys. 

Imagine something like Steam-HeART's concept for Dark Elves actually becoming a thing in Lego! 

 

[ChrisW]

Wow, the Downtown Flower & Designer Stores set looks really nice. Would fit well into a city layout.

[Killian]

LOOK AT THIS CAT! JUST LOOK AT IT!   

 

 

[Maple]

Love the cat but that's also the first really ugly Friends set of 2023. haha
 

The grocery store is $90, ouch, and doesn't even have corn. The $160 set is lovely and weird at the same time, but includes a black window/door frame for the double doors.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Maple

[TeriXeri]

That fresh market shop looks okay but way overpriced at first glance , compared to Autumn's House at similar piece count which is €20 less.

City center looks a lot better, still €160 is a lot , but friends is a theme that gets rather large discount at times.

2022 41704: Main Street Building and 41709: Vacation Beach House looked a bit too "clean" in my opinion, sort of the same as the 41731: Heartlake International School style, not really my thing.

41732: Downtown Flower and Design Stores obviously has that modern building , but the triangle shape definately sets it apart from sets mentioned above.

Mobile tiny house is very cute, even as an actual tiny house + car, I do like it.

Cat Hotel looks fun as well, while probably more expensive then 41699: Pet Adoption Café, it looks nicer.

Diner and Hair Salon are still strong entries.

Skate park makes great use out of Stuntz Ramps and despite larger pieces seems fair priced as well, skateboarding has been a thing in Creator/City and even 2022 main street recently so a good fit to have it's own set.

The room sets rely on stickers details but I think they are great starts to make MOCs/interior on the Friends/City/Creator 3-in-1 scale builds, and come with 2 dolls each, so 4 sets cover the entire main cast of 8.

• Nova's Room definately has that "streamer" setup feel, with the game/chat on seperate monitors + the stream rebroadcast on laptop (presumably could be Zac's).
• Leo's room might as well be a floor of a beach house, with the railing being a balcony, and the surfboard/diving gear included.
• Aliya's room sliding extra guest bed is nice, with a cozy more classic feeling.
• Liann's room is more open and colorful, I love the  design of the stickers, and the pet terrarium.

Overall I think those room sets make a strong start of the 2023 friends next generation by themselves, or when combined with MOCs or other sets, and I like this format of vignettes/rooms better compared to Play Cubes, there probably will be 4 more Room sets at one point , to complete the 8.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Killian]

My poor wallet... I NEED at least 18 out of the 21 revealed sets some for the characters, some for the animals, most are also great builds.

That Downtown Florist and Design Stores 41732 set is exquisite!

And I love that Nova displays the skulls of her vanquished enemies. Well played Lego.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Killian
The skull thing