I hope you guys don't mind, but I joined the eurobricks forums just to participate in this thread. I was really, really disappointed by the quality of the discussion about the new line elsewhere on the internet.
I was a huge lego fan as a girl--back in the 90s, I split my time between playing with Paradisa sets and castle sets pretty equally. I'm also a feminist. I've been really bummed by the "feminist" reaction to this set across the internet. There's a lot of assumptions on places like Jezebel and the Hairpin, and I think there's a lot of latent sexism in those responses. SO many people are dismissing this as pink, barbie-fied lego.
But to me, it looks like TLC put a lot of care into NOT making this set another faux-Disney-Princess toy. The problem with Disney Princess stuff has always been, to me, the limited interests and the passivity of female characters. You sit around waiting for your prince to come, that sort of thing. But that was much more true for the old Paradisa sets than for these. Other than the different minifigs, I really struggle to see how the Paradisa sets were any LESS sexist. The boxes all showed girls sitting around on poolsides being served drinks. The only other activity that seemed acceptable was horseback riding. Most of the minifigs had heavy make-up and wore bathing suits (it always killed me as a kid that the women didn't come with pants!).
There's pretty much one set/character here that seems to do that. The rest of the sets are all centered around gender-neutral activities, from baking to inventing to playing in tree houses. In the house set, it's the mom that mows the lawn! Even the beautician character is shown with a *drafting* table. Sure, these are domestic sets, with lots of animals--but there's nothing wrong with domestic play, or cute animals, for either boys OR girls.
You wouldn't know that from the way people are talking about this line, though. It's all about how dolls are lame and social play is lame and legos are just for building. Strange . . . if that were the case it would seem to me that minifigs aren't necessary at all. There's also a bizarre assumption that all of these sets are completely prefab, and that doesn't seem to be the case, either. In fact, these sets aren't even very PINK. The primary colors seem to be purple and blue.
I'd love if there were more female minifigs generally, and I'd love if there were more boy ladyfigs here, but the figures in the friends line look pretty much like real little girls. They're not overly sexualized; just as many wear pants as skirts. I can see these really appealing to modern girls with a wide range of interests. Heck, it has me shopping for lego for the first time in fifteen years.
