LukeWarmTea

I hear ya - female baddy? I'm in! Any set with a female minifig that isn't 'smiling' makes my heart soar. I'm definitely keen for the canoe set and love the 'rescue' sets. It's a shame the way City has become so 'rough' - and kids know it too. Yesterday, my 5yo took her 'Lego family' (a mix of minidolls, minifigs and duplo people) to a baseball game - but 'Dad' (police minifig) had to stay home cause he was "too grumpy to be fun." Ha! Also, does anyone else remember baseball caps with a ponytail at the back? I swear I had one as a kid - she came in some sports set - but it was really useful to make female minifigs into anything, really - cops, firefighters, crims etc.

So excited by the farm idea - we live in NZ, so it's inescapable - and the potential. Is the tractor idea real or just wishful thinking? More minidoll Friendly vehicles would be a boon.

Love this topic! I'm a new AFOL who's fallen in love all over again with Lego due to my daughter, now 5, learning to love the little bricks. I'm also very much aware of the Friends debate and gender definition in toys, something as a parent I am hyper aware of. It's how I discovered Feminist Frequency and several great Lego blogs - their arguments opposed, and for one very good reason. One (the feminist viewpoint) was discussing the marketing of the product. The other, AFOL group, was discussing the toy. I think we've all seen since the release of Friends that both groups are correct! I grew up with the basic Creator style bricks, but was often given 'girls' sets like Paradiso as presents, and when asked I went for Robin Hood and Knights sets (I really wanted the castle!). Later I fell in love with the horses of Belleville and had to have them, but they never mingled with the boys from the hood. I'd like to second the call for Solution 4.0 - Non-Friends sets featuring mini-dolls, and go one step further and suggest a new, more gender neutral range, that would be the 'bridge' Lego kept insisting Friends would be for girls. Friends should continue, I think it's a great range, and so should the mini-doll, for all it's faults. I've given the idea of a new range heaps of thought, to the point where I am constructing some models for Cuusoo. I call it 'Lego Neighbourhood' and it features a softer side to City, but more realistic than Friends - like the Lego Town we all once loved. Unlike Lego Town, it'll retain some elements of Friends and City - notably the story. You'll have seen it - all the new sets targeted to kids feature a scene, or a backstory. This is missing from Creator - which is a great range of gender neutral sets, but sadly not always age appropriate and very rarely advertised. (Never, if you're in NZ like me!) Friends was touted as a 'bridge' or 'link' to other Lego, and as a parent, early childhood teacher and caregiver I have to say that really hasn't happened. Yes, it has brought (back) many girls to Lego, but it takes the individual kid and their family to cross the boundary into the 'boys' sets. Many comments above suggest that the kids 'don't mind' or 'notice' the size, and that's fair to a point - but they do in some really important ways. When Mia put on the fire helmet yesterday, Bella (5) attempted to also 'put the uniform on'. She couldn't, so Mia wasn't 'meant to be a fire-fighter'. Bella also has a tonne of city vehicles, none of which the 'girls' could fit, so again, they can't be ambulance drivers, police officers or motorcyclists. Changing the mini-doll isn't really an option at this point. A gender neutral mini-doll range would give the mini-dolls a wider scope for imaginative play - and maybe break the 'boys can't play with dolls' mantra as well. TL/DR? Mini-dolls should stay and be used in other, new ranges, with more gender-neutral options suited to the 'mini-doll'. Girls aren't crossing over automatically and need a bit of encouragement.