Maya

You are absolutely right, CM4Sci! I totally forgot about Arendelle Castle Celebration Anna, and the new girl's wig is definitely Anna's wig in black! Sorry, my bad! So, does the presence of a school bus imply that Heartlake City is somewhere in the US or Canada?

What a great find! Thank you! I think so! At first I thought it might be Cinderella's wig, but the bangs are parted on the wrong side, and it doesn't look like the new girl has a bun or the headband like Cinderella. Anna from Frozen has a hat and two braided pigtails. And Anna from Friends has a short bob haircut. The new girl seems to have a new hairpiece that looks like a ponytail. I can't wait to see a clearer image.

Yes! The big image shown on the back of Puppy Day Care shows Mia scooping up some dog poop, and I thought that was funny. What a way to use the chocolate ice cream piece...

It's not the same one as the one you are talking about. The new waffle/apple pie piece is a quarter of a flat round tile. You can see the close-up image of the pieces below: http://news.toyark.c...-friends-192303 See image #17.

Yes, it does look like a waffle in that official image of cute items in the set. But see how the grid pattern is placed diagonally in the image I enlarged from the Toyark's Toy Fair photo: The thickness of these pieces is more like that of a Belgian waffle, but the surface pattern makes me think of an apple pie. I guess the official product description will soon tell us what it's supposed to be. :) (edit: I tried to post the enlarged image, but I couldn't do it... Sorry!)

I thought they were waffle pieces, but upon closer look, I have to say they may also be apple pie slices based on the diagonal pattern. Either way, it's a new food piece, so I'm happy! I think these pieces are too small for stickers. :)

I know! I think the new one is a quarter waffle piece, and with four of them, you can have a whole waffle! I've been excited about it since I saw it in Toy Fair pictures. :)

LegoMyMamma posted a few images of 41133 Amusement Park Bumper Cars on this post: http://heartlaketime...iends-sets.html Here's one of them: The cotton candy wagon! Too bad the new character Ben appears to be just Julian with a different colored wig.

There is a new polybag coming out with Sira! 30375 Sira's Adventurous Airglider

The cover of the second chapter book is out. :) It looks fantastic!

I got the Elves Activity Book #1. It's only 32 pages long, and the majority of them consist of puzzles and similar activities. It also has a few story pages in the beginning and a couple of comic pages at the end, and the story is based on the mini-movie "Unite the Magic". The official LEGO Elves artwork is used here and there throughout the activity book, but you will see more additional artwork done by different people. Some of the LEGO books, like this activity book, are produced by AMEET, the Polish publisher, and they often contain artwork specially prepared for their books (not by LEGO). I personally prefer the stunning official artwork done by LEGO, but the AMEET artwork blends in pretty well. The problem is that there are only three or four different versions of the official LEGO artwork of the characters. So you see the same old artwork in this activity book as well as in the two magazine issues. There are plenty of kids magazines in the US, but I have noticed none of them come with any decent free gifts. If they did, the free gifts would probably get stolen anyway, in huge bookstores or places like Walmart where sales clerks are not watching over the customers. I don't know the real reason these LEGO magazines are not offered in the US, but if they ever come here, they will be sold either without the free toys or the magazines will be wrapped up in plastic.

You are right about white being associated with the wind creatures! I was just thinking about lavender being the main color for the wind element, and it didn't occur to me that a white dragon with icy features can be a wind creature. The fifth element being love may sound cheesy, but I think it makes the theme more relatable for the target audience. After all, love is the only power even ordinary humans like us can possess. Webisode 4 is also quite interesting: the four elements cannot be combined unless Emily’s fifth element is there. I wonder if we will indeed see that come into play in 2016. I still hope there's room for yet another new element to be unveiled in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed the first LEGO Elves chapter book; Like you pointed out, it gives a lot of great details that the 22-minute mini-movie simply cannot cover. I think I grew to like the characters even more after reading the book. I’m definitely getting the second book when it comes out in January.

Oh, that's exactly right! Now that you said it, I could hear it! Thanks!

This is perfect! There's a part in Webisode 5 that I couldn't quite understand and I wanted to ask someone. What exactly did Farran say after saying "it's a stick" in the scene where Emily was opening the gift? It's interesting how Skyra (whom I believe to be a wind elf) is so powerful that she can control what happens in the sky (hence her name Skyra?) and can make snow appear! When I first saw that, I thought she might be a snow/ice elf as she can give the first impression of being a little cold-hearted. Did the snow she created awaken the white dragon at the end? Its white and icy design definitely makes me think of ice. I'm not familiar with the concept of elementals, but can ice be a new element to be discovered next year? The white dragon is clearly an important part of the next year's storyline, as its picture is included on the new box design. I think it would be cool if the dragon turned out to be a fifth elven friend of Emily's who had somehow gotten trapped in the dragon body... I'm not really into dragons, but since I like LEGO Elves, I'm looking forward to what will happen in Elevendale next year.

19 new sets?! That's a lot more sets than usual; typically, there are 9-14 Friends sets per wave. During the two years when we had the animal packs, we had only 7-10 regular Friends sets, and in 2015 we got 12 new sets each wave. Perhaps the Friends line is expanding... Or this new list contains a few items for the second wave. I also feel some more sets may be missing; it's hard to imagine they come up with Amusement Park Hot Dog Van without other amusement park sets... If all those sets are supposed to be released in January 2016, I wonder if a few of them are actually small foil pack type sets under $5. Party Cakes and Party Styling sound like very small sets. I noticed that there's 41113 Party Gift Shop and 41132 Heartlake Party Shop... ???

Thanks for the link to the pic! It looks really cute and quite different than the other stores we have had in Heartlake City. I have noticed these exclusive sets never seem to have exclusive mini-doll parts, but oh well. I love the look of the set anyway, and I can't wait to get it! I see the ice cream cone part in pink for the bouquet!

That's great news! I haven't been able to find out anything about the grocery store since it was first mentioned during the London Toy Fair, and I have been quite anxious to know more about it. This set must be a store exclusive, like last the news van and the horse show from last year. Thanks for the description! Now I would like to see the official images! :)

Thank you, just2good! I had been waiting to see the new Friends images every day! I love the look of the new characters, Emma's parents, Noah and Natasha. They have nice new hair styles and some new clothes that make them look different than any of the existing characters. I appreciate other new elements like the scissors, the baby bottle, the new flower hair accessory, and the new sunglasses. It's also nice to see the familiar animals in different colors! Olivia's new bikini and Andrea's new green shorts are also very cute. I just wish Stephanie's pizzeria would come with the new pizza piece. I love the look of the Disney Princess and Elves sets, too, but Friends is definitely on the very top of my wish list. I can't wait to get Emma's House, the Hair Salon, the Lighthouse and the Hot Air Balloon!

Based on what we have seen for the next wave, it appears that they are discontinuing the animal packs. Although there will be three animal boxed sets in the next wave, they seem to be part of a new "animal care" sub-theme; the prelim images of the clinic and the foal have a slightly different design with the special logo of the red cross & the paw. I feel the animal packs have not been quite as successful as TLG hoped, so they probably needed a little change. In the US, the price was $4.99 last year but it's $3.99 this year. And I can imagine keeping the animal packs going isn't cheap, as they had to come up with some new molds. I love everything Friends, but I get least excited about the animal packs because I personally don't have much use for those extremely wild and exotic animals in my collection. I think offering animal sets together with a vet's office in the special sub-theme will give more context and makes it more playable and attractive for some people including me. We will probably see wave 5 and wave 6 in the US soon, though. Probably in time for the holiday season, as they make great socking stuffers.

Thanks, TomKraut! Without your mention of the new Elves line, I wouldn't have found out about that new fantasy theme for girls! :) Looking forward to it!

I feel the same way with Mutant Orc about the remakes of certain sets like the vet clinic. I don't want two vet clinics in my Heartlake City where there's not even one supermarket. I would welcome a new house for a Friends character every year, though! I've also noticed that missing number in the list. But that has happened in the past, and it's possible the set 41096 has become part of the sets for the second wave of 2015.

Thanks for the advent calendar review, just2good! :) I agree with you about Mia's torso. Too bad she is wearing Stephanie's hand-me-down clothes from last year. By the way, the one you think looks like a meal cover may be a Christmas pudding... Of course it can be anything you want it to be. ;) Herky, I went to Walmart today and while I didn't see Series 5 animals per se, I saw a sign on a shelf that said "Friends wave 5". It might mean Series 5 animals are showing up pretty soon...? The shopping mall is really fun to build, but I feel the shops upstairs are a bit too small for play. I love a lot of the things about the mall, but girls who are into fashion might find this mall a bit lacking in some ways... More clothes and hair options would have been nice. Although I'm not too keen on the big mall sign, the overall design is very nice and it was the most fun I ever had building a Friends set.

Heartlakefriends.com did a wonderful Toy Fair coverage on LEGO Friends, and I saw the close-up picture of Maya there! As I said earlier, she can be a white girl, but LEGO designed Maya this way so that some people see her as Asian and they can say that the cruiser set contains one minority character. I think that's a good move; if Heartlake City is supposed to be like a modern US city, people will eventually start asking for an Asian character. And girls who don't look quite like any of the characters created so far may find Maya more like themselves whether they are Asian or not. I haven't personally met many Maya's here in the US, but I've know some Maya's from Japan as well as from the Netherlands. They have chosen quite a few names that end in -a for Friends characters. Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

Yes, this definitely looks more like it! It is very nicely done! I also like the way you put Emma in front of the door/wall so that the writing is blocked. And the color selection seems much more culturally accurate; Emma will be less distracted in this environment than her original meditation corner with vibrant pink and purple! For many girls in the target age group, though, the cute elements and pretty colors are more important than this traditional & authentic look. But the way you redid the set might really appeal to boys and adults who like Ninjago and so on. Good job!

I'm excited about lots of different details in these new sets. I'm happy about the cool yellow school walls and bakery floor. The bakery contains fun food items like buildable cakes and star-shaped cookies as well as a baguette, a croissant and a pretzel! I also see a wedding cake! The cherry included in the bakery is pink, and that must be something new! Also the pink flowers outside the school seem to be in a different shade of pink. Just like many people writing on this thread, I'm really impressed with the cruiser! There are so many reasons I have to have it!! The boat is simply beautiful, the fully furnished interior seems so much fun to play with, the exclusive Andrew mini-doll, etc. But did anyone notice that the bathroom/toilet area in the cruiser had no doors on either side of the walls? And I think one of the walls is even transparent! I guess Friends don't need barriers anywhere. I would probably like a little more privacy, though. Another thing that made me all excited is the new mini-doll named Maya in Dolphin Cruiser! She has long black hair with bangs, brown eyes, and is wearing a top with a cherry blossoms pattern. I think her shirt design is a subtle message that this character can be Japanese (or Asian). Of course people can see her as a Caucasian girl with black hair and a Japanese-inspired shirt on, but the addition of this new character might make some Asian girls and their parents happy that there's at least one character who looks like themselves! I'm also Maya from Japan with black hair and brown eyes, and I can't wait to meet the mini-doll Maya!