Lego Friends


Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls, which was launched in 2012. It introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but more detailed and realistic.
The five original fictional characters from the 2012 theme introduction were Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia, and Emma. The theme was relaunched in January 2023 to focus on a more diverse cast of characters: Aliya, Nova, Zac, Liann, Paisley, Leo, Autumn, and Olly. Lego Friends sets depict scenes set in the fictional town of Heartlake City, with sets often deriving from one of the characters. The sets are completed by a CGI-animated series, Lego Friends, that debuted in 2012.
The Lego Friends product range replaced Lego's previous female-oriented theme, Belville, which had been in production since 1994 and featured dolls that were significantly larger than both mini-dolls and minifigures. The launch of Lego Friends sets in 2012 was one of Lego's biggest successes, as it not only doubled sales expectations, but also extensively widened Lego's customer base within the girls' sector. Despite receiving initial criticism regarding its representation of girls and their interests, the line has consistently performed well and has been regularly listed as one of the Lego Group's best-selling themes.

Overview

Lego Friends focuses on eight characters: Aliya, Nova, Zac, Liann, Paisley, Leo, Autumn and Olly, who live in Heartlake City. These characters replaced the original five named Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia, and Emma. Each of the characters have specific interests, such as animal-lover, beautician, and popstar. The theme depicts their houses, hobbies, cars and favourite places to spend their free time. The line introduced the mini-doll figure in Lego Friends construction toy sets, replacing the traditional Lego minifigure. The mini-doll is slightly taller than a minifigure, thinner and curvier, and was an improvement on the Belville range, which did not have customisable figures. It is also compatible with the wider Lego product range. Lego Friends also introduced a range of new brick colors, including purple, lavender, teal and turquoise.

Characters

2012–2022 (Original)

Prior to January 2023, Lego Friends focused on five teenage girls who live in the fictional town of Heartlake City. Each character had a distinctive personality, illustrated by her favorite activities.
  • Andrea – a confident and charismatic popstar who loves to sing. She had a pet bird whom she called Pepper. She also loved being the center of attention and dreamed of being a celebrity and a great popstar.
  • Emma – a creative and imaginative character who expressed herself through art. She had a pet cat whom she called Chico. She loved cheese a lot, was the silliest of the group, and was shown to be smart.
  • Mia – an animal lover who enjoyed being outdoors. She had a pet rabbit whom she called Twister. She loves being sarcastic and will do anything to protect the wilderness. She is also the mother of Autumn from the next incarnation.
  • Olivia – a curious character with a passion for science. She was the smartest in the group and had a pet hamster whom she called Rumble, who usually stayed in a robot named Zobo that Olivia built to help out.
  • Stephanie – a sporty character who loves health and fitness. She was the most competitive one in the group and would turn anything into a competition. She had a pet dog whom she called Dash.

    2023-Present

  • Autumn – an adventurer who likes to build a campfire, catch a fish and put up a makeshift shelter. She was born with a limb difference and lost her left forearm. She is the daughter of Mia from the original incarnation.
  • Zac – a jokester. He likes motocross, martial arts and extreme sports.
  • Paisley – a singer who loves to perform but has stage fright.
  • Leo – a cook who enjoys helping his grandmother in the kitchen and has a pet cat named Churro.
  • Aliya – a high achiever who likes to do homework, extracurriculars and volunteering at the animal shelter.
  • Nova – a mega influencer that plays games and has a pet dog whom she calls Pickle.
  • Olly – a fashion designer.
  • Liann – a famous comic book illustrator.

    Development

Before the launch of the Lego Friends range, The Lego Group had previously targeted both boys and girls in its marketing. An American commercial in 1955 depicted both young boys and young girls playing with Lego. In 1974, the Lego minifigure was introduced, with a female minifigure introduced two months after the male minifigures. By 1979, the company had begun to specifically target girls with the launch of Scala jewelry. In 1981, a young girl holding her Lego creation was showcased in a Lego advert. In 1994, the Belville product line was introduced for girls, which focused on a fairytale theme and did not include minifigures or buildable toys. Scala was later resurrected in 1997, which emphasised gender roles.
In October 1999, Lego released a computer game for Windows PC titled Lego Friends. The game followed five girls as they "do all the things enjoy most -- from being part of a girls 'gang' to playing in a band." According to Lego, this game "was created as a sort of experiment, the byproduct of research conducted by Elena Catón in 1997 for the Lego Group into some concerns the company had about the demographics of its toys."
Lego conducted years of additional research about its customer base, which showed that 90% of Lego sets sold were aimed at boys. This meant that there was a huge untapped market of girls who were not using Lego. A Lego spokesman, Michael McNally reported, "Seeing that the play pattern was really skewing so heavily toward boys, we wanted to understand why. We embarked on four years of global research with 4,500 girls and their moms. Some of the things we heard were really surprising and challenging in ways that weren't really comfortable for us as a brand." The research showed that boys and girls play very differently and construct different worlds of play. McNally noted that, "The boys immediately grabbed the figures and the horses and the catapults and they started having a battle". By contrast the girls were more focused on the structure. "They all looked around inside the castle and they said, 'Well, there's nothing inside'. This idea of interior versus exterior in the orientation of how they would then play with what they built was really interesting. If you think about most of the Lego models that people consider to be meant for boys, there's not a whole lot going on in there. But this idea of, 'There's nothing inside to do.'"
The Lego Friends line was developed to target the girl's market. The Lego Group conducted extensive ethnographic research, which aimed to identify girls' preferences. Friends model designer Mauricio Affonso commented, "One of the main things was they couldn't really relate to the minifigure, it's too blocky. Boys tend to be a lot more about good versus evil, whereas girls really see themselves through the mini-doll. They wanted a greater level of detail, proportions and realism."
The research also showed a difference in the way that girls assemble Lego sets. McNally commented, "One of the things we learned in the research was that—where boys were perfectly happy going through two hours assembling a single structure—girls were much more interested in small bite-sized assembly that provided a role-play opportunity, before then building again".

Launch

The Lego Friends toy line was launched in January 2012 in North America, with the release of 14 sets. The first wave included 23 sets and featured five friends named Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia, and Emma in suburban settings. In the initial release, the larger sets included the Heartlake Vet, City Park Cafe, and Butterfly Beauty Shop. Smaller sets in the initial wave included vehicle and hobby-themed kits, such as Stephanie's Cool Convertible and Olivia's Invention Workshop.

Reception

Controversy

The Lego Friends theme received initial criticism for its reinforcement of gender stereotypes. Campaign groups in both the UK and the US particularly disliked the use of the color pink in the product range and the particular range of activities enjoyed by the characters. Abi Moore of UK campaign group, Pinkstinks remarked, "We want toys that offer all sorts of opportunities to all children. We think that cupcakes, parties and having everything revolve around leisure is just tiresome and heavily stereotyped." In the US, a petition launched by the Spark movement achieved 50,000 signatures with the aim of pressuring The Lego Group to change its marketing strategy. In addition, the slim figures of the Friends characters have also drawn criticism from eating disorder specialists. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood nominated Lego Friends for a TOADY award, which is a "worst toy" award and an acronym for "Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children", having opined that the Lego Friends line was "so jam-packed with condescending stereotypes it would even make Barbie blush". However, The Lego Group has responded to its critics by stating that the line was the result of research with 3,000 girls who wanted to find relevance in Lego construction sets.
Lego spokesman, Michael McNally commented, "There were a lot of people at the beginning who said, 'They've dumbed it down, it's not nearly as complicated , it's special for girls because they don't think girls can build. The reality is, just about piece for piece, there are just as many pieces required to put something together ." McNally defended the Lego Friends product line against its critics by stating, "I think there's been a lot of momentum around this idea that everything should be gender neutral. That's not what we're striving for. We don't see anything wrong with the natural ways that children are choosing to play. We try being gender inclusive."
In response to further criticism raised in a letter written by a 7-year-old girl in 2014 about the nature of the girls' activities in Lego sets, The Lego Group released a Research Institute play set, which included a female palaeontologist, astronomer and chemist.