2023 Friends Rumours, Leaks, Information And Discussion

[Killian]

Nova has the minidoll "evil face" expression that we've seen on Ragana, Noctura, Maleficent, Lady Tremaine, Vicky etc...

I wonder if there'll be some personality clashes as the new friends cast learn to appreciate each other? Nova's meant to be a confident streamer but not great with real life interactions; it's be an interesting twist if she relied on being mean as a defence mechanism to hide her lack of confidence making the new Friends get off on the wrong foot with her and she's like a rival to begin with before they unlock the power of friendship...

 

There's so many possibilities with these plastic people! Hope the new show is watchable on YouTube like Rainbow High, Hidden Side, Ninjago shorts, Monster High, Mermaid High etc...

[dvw2]

On 12/5/2022 at 3:38 PM, Aanchir said:

I assume they're referring to the "LEGO Friends: Girls on a Mission" series which ran from 2018–2021. This series features a villainous tech magnate named Dr. Alvah who, despite being one of Olivia's biggest role models, is a fairly amoral in her real-estate acquisitions and efforts to "upgrade" Heartlake City with her dazzling new inventions. She employs a pair of bumbling construction workers, Ricky and Joey, in a lot of less-than-legal parts of her gentrification schemes.

This was a fantastic summary of the Alvah plot lines, and kind of nostalgic for me, reminding me of all the episodes my daughter and I watched together. Well done and thank you Aanchir!

[Killian]

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

Why is there no traditional girly girl?

Nadia in set 41743 has pink hair, a skirt and a traditionally feminine occupation. Aliya has stereotypically feminine interests in set 41740, and Adi in set 41732 feels like she's expressing her femininity.

I'm interested to see if the new media surrounding this franchise uses They/Them pronouns for anyone.

 

I think this is the first time a single wave of Lego Friends sets has had so much variation in outfits for each character. There aren't many variations of different characters repeated in more than one set. In Ninjago/City/Star Wars/DC/Jurassic World etc. you end up with so many multiples of the exact same minifig (I see you Owen Grady); even in Friends you'd end up with clones of the main girls here and there, but for 2023 it feels like even when you buy more than one Friends set with the same character, you're still getting something new for that character with very few exceptions. It seems only Olly, Leo, Liann and Autumn have their looks repeated so far, and then only in a small number of sets.

 

 

[Maple]

My sister was complaining that the minidolls in the advent weren't festival enough. I was explaining that the designers might have been holding back their budget for the reboot. Thanks for the picture, that's amazing.

I built 41712, the recycling truck. It's nice for the $5 I paid (Kohl's Cash) but it's not $20 nice. Really a $15 set at best.

[TeriXeri]

5 hours ago, Killian said:

I think this is the first time a single wave of Lego Friends sets has had so much variation in outfits for each character. There aren't many variations of different characters repeated in more than one set. 

I love that, especially for a theme with a lot of named characters like Friends, there are bound to be repeats, but LEGO is certainly starting strong here with different outfits and face expressions.

With more variation, hair and face swaps can be done easier as well to make new characters.

City is also adjusting a bit, at least 2023 looks to have things like criminal torsos without numbers on it, instead of having another criminal 87653 in 22 sets, and most figs don't look less detailed compared to their LEGO City Adventures variants from the years before.

Edited December 9, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Killian]

Does anybody know if there's an extended version of this song from Lego's Heartlake Stories episodes and where online I can hear the full thing?

 

[LordsofMedieval]

Once again Friends sets are killing it when compared to similar City releases. Autumn's House may be the best 'home' they've ever done, and the grocery store just crushes the one that came out earlier this year. 

I'm not mad - I buy Friends stuff pretty frequently. But it's also kind of embarrassing that what is arguably Lego's "main" theme can't compare to this up-and-comer. It's like TLG took all of City's best talent and sent them over to Friends.

[The Brick Boss]

6 hours ago, LordsofMedieval said:

Once again Friends sets are killing it when compared to similar City releases. Autumn's House may be the best 'home' they've ever done, and the grocery store just crushes the one that came out earlier this year. 

I'm not mad - I buy Friends stuff pretty frequently. But it's also kind of embarrassing that what is arguably Lego's "main" theme can't compare to this up-and-comer. It's like TLG took all of City's best talent and sent them over to Friends.

I have to agree with you there. 

[Lemerbrix]

I’m on the fence about buying the pet daycare center, is it a good set?
would it fit with the 2023 Lego friends sets?

[Maple]

19 hours ago, LordsofMedieval said:

Once again Friends sets are killing it when compared to similar City releases. Autumn's House may be the best 'home' they've ever done, and the grocery store just crushes the one that came out earlier this year. 

I'm not mad - I buy Friends stuff pretty frequently. But it's also kind of embarrassing that what is arguably Lego's "main" theme can't compare to this up-and-comer. It's like TLG took all of City's best talent and sent them over to Friends.

How is Friends 'Up and coming'? It's been a top theme for a decade now.

[Killian]

17 hours ago, Maple said:

How is Friends 'Up and coming'? It's been a top theme for a decade now.

The original Friends is over. The new 2023 version with the 8 main characters is technically unproven, so could be arguably "Up and Coming"?

Speaking of, the way they spelled H-E-A-R-T in the Girls on a Mission series fitted the 5 characters with a letter each. I'm a bit surprised we don't have 9 new characters to spell H-E-A-R-T-L-A-K-E, but maybe that won't be a feature in the new theme song.

Wish Lego would do some kind of press release with details of the new show/webisodes for 2023. I wonder if it'll be CGI or more traditional animation and whether the characters will look like minidolls or not? I wonder if it's being made by the same animation studio?

I hope it's not hard to watch internationally like Monkie Kid was for the longest time

17 hours ago, Lemerbrix said:

I’m on the fence about buying the pet daycare center, is it a good set?
would it fit with the 2023 Lego friends sets?

It's a great set with some useful pieces that would be good for Theme Park MOCs and would pair well with the various pet rescue sets in the 2023 line up. It'd be an easy MOD to turn it into a kindergarten/playground too. It's a good way to get the blonde schnauser/terrier animal that's not been in many sets yet

[Killian]

Stephanie is confirmed to be returning in some capacity. I wonder if she'll turn out to be related to the main 8 somehow?

Edited December 12, 2022 by Killian
Asked a question, then found the answer myself, so changed the post completely since I couldn't find a delete option XD

[Killian]

Just realised I missed an outfit on my big outfit image, so here's the updated version LOL 

 

 

[Maple]

3 hours ago, Killian said:

Stephanie is confirmed to be returning in some capacity. I wonder if she'll turn out to be related to the main 8 somehow?ng

She is the mom to one of the new 'Friends'.

I don't think because it's being rebooted a bit that Friends is somehow 'new' and 'upcoming'. It's a 10 year old theme. It's like saying City was upcoming a few years back when it was rebooted to included TV show characters.

[TeriXeri]

Friends probably has one of those themes that do exist quite a long time but just now seem to start getting a lot more attention.

Elves also seems to have gotten more discussion after the fact that it ended.

2019 LEGO Movie might've introduced more AFOL to minidolls etc, and the 2022 10 year anniversary and 2023 refresh certainly got the theme more media attention as well.

But it's certainly not a new theme by itself, and even 10+ years after introduction, there's still a lot of "yeah but minidolls" acting like it's a different toy or something.

I agree dolls and their animals certainly are of a different style, but apparently quite succesful enough to still get a lot of new attention, with new animals and especially 2022/2023 getting more minidoll skin colours, hair/hat-styles, face prints and new leg moulds etc.

Disney minidoll sets also seem to follow the 2023 minidoll style update, quite a difference between a 2022 and 2023 Jasmine or Rapunzel head print for example.

Edited December 12, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Killian]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

there's still a lot of "yeah but minidolls" acting like it's a different toy or something.

That's generally the more immature section of the AFOL community who don't like minidolls because it's different to what they grew up with or that dislike them because they look more like dolls and they think dolls are for girls and they feel that exhibiting female interests/characteristics makes them feel degraded because female is somehow less than male in some weird way.

If Lego had introduced minidolls in the 1970's then introduced minifigures 11 years ago, the naysayers would be like "Eww Icky Minifigures!" 

I don't get why people that don't like minidolls always have to be so vocal about it, just sell them online and replace them with minifigures and enjoy the superior set build without worrying that enjoying a Friends set makes you somehow less masculine.  Until Lego bring out sets designed to be operated with certain genitalia, any Lego set is for any gender or lack of gender anyway.

 

[Lemerbrix]

17 hours ago, Maple said:

She is the mom to one of the new 'Friends'.

I don't think because it's being rebooted a bit that Friends is somehow 'new' and 'upcoming'. It's a 10 year old theme. It's like saying City was upcoming a few years back when it was rebooted to included TV show characters.

Where did you get this info?

[Maple]

1 hour ago, Lemerbrix said:

Where did you get this info?

It wasn't Stephanie, it's Mia. She's Autumn's mom in the house set. I swear we talked about it here because someone was making a joke that the sets much take place in the early 2030s because a set from this year said it was 2022. 

 

16 hours ago, Killian said:

If Lego had introduced minidolls in the 1970's then introduced minifigures 11 years ago, the naysayers would be like "Eww Icky Minifigures!" 

I think this is partly right. I think some of the hate is just hate for something different. I hate minidolls because their hands don't move and they don't have studs on their butts. If LEGO introduced minidolls that did more, not less, things then minifigures I think they would have been more well received. Plus LEGO never really gave minidolls the attention/details they deserve in the theme. Friends minidolls to me have been 'meh' but the Elves line they were amazing, and even the DC Girls Super Hero line did a good job.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Maple

[Lemerbrix]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:53 AM, Killian said:

Wish Lego would do some kind of press release with details of the new show/webisodes for 2023. I wonder if it'll be CGI or more traditional animation and whether the characters will look like minidolls or not? I wonder if it's being made by the same animation studio?

I hope it's not hard to watch internationally like Monkie Kid was for the longest time

It’s going to be minidoll style, there’s a clip in the announcement trailer, should all be posted on YouTube like ninjago and city adventures

7 hours ago, Maple said:

It wasn't Stephanie, it's Mia. She's Autumn's mom in the house set. I swear we talked about it here because someone was making a joke that the sets much take place in the early 2030s because a set from this year said it was 2022. 

Yeah, thanks for the clarity, I knew Mia was autumn’s mom, I hadn’t heard anything about Stephanie though 

 

also, it’s cool how the main cast have unique outfits in the bedroom sets, maybe the other 4 will get bedrooms in the summer wave, and yes, technically autumn and paisley have rooms, but Mia had her bedroom in 2 different sets (42327 & 41369)

Edited December 13, 2022 by Lemerbrix

[Killian]

13 minutes ago, Lemerbrix said:

I knew Mia was autumn’s mom, I hadn’t heard anything about Stephanie though 

All we know so far is this:

 

Full article here : https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/next-generation-of-lego-friends-will-arrive-in-2023-with-8-new-main-characters-and-all-new-sets/

[Maple]

1 minute ago, Killian said:

All we know so far is this:

 

Full article here : https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/next-generation-of-lego-friends-will-arrive-in-2023-with-8-new-main-characters-and-all-new-sets/

Thanks for that picture. It's probably way I got that confused. They talk about Autumn's House and then Stephanie in the future. Plus I never really knew / used the names of the characters that well.

[Killian]

19 minutes ago, Maple said:

Thanks for that picture. It's probably way I got that confused. They talk about Autumn's House and then Stephanie in the future. Plus I never really knew / used the names of the characters that well.

Forgot to mention, in the lounge of Autumn's house (set 41730) there's a picture of Stephanie at graduation with Mia. 

[Lemerbrix]

3 hours ago, Killian said:

All we know so far is this:

 

Full article here : https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/next-generation-of-lego-friends-will-arrive-in-2023-with-8-new-main-characters-and-all-new-sets/

Ok, thanks, Stephanie is one of my favorites of the og gang (Mia being first, kinda ironic that autumn is my favorite of the new gang) 

[Killian]

Just been thinking that the new Friend's bedroom sets for 2023 would have been a good place to reintroduce part 6288358 or part 6319751 with new printing to represent a kid's Piggy Bank. 

I wonder if they'll do that someday, maybe even in a City set?

[jonwil]

The Moana pig may be considered a "licensed part"