Subject | Five best friends |
---|---|
Licensed from | The Lego Group |
Availability | 2012–present |
Total sets | 470[1] |
Characters | Andrea, Emma, Mia, Olivia, and Stephanie |
Official website |
Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls. Launched in 2012, the theme introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realistic. The five main characters of the theme are Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia and Emma. The Lego Friends sets depict scenes from suburban life set in the fictional town of Heartlake City and usually include one of the character's names in the titles. The sets are complemented by an animated series that premiered in 2014. The Friends product range replaced Lego's previous female-oriented theme Belville, which had been in production since 1994, and featured dolls that were much larger than both the mini-dolls and minifigures. The launch of Lego Friends 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 relating to 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.
Lego Friends focuses on five characters named Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia and Emma who live in Heartlake City. Each of the characters has specific interests, such as animal-lover, beautician and pop star. 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 colours, including purple, lavender, teal and turquoise.[2]
The Lego Friends theme focuses on five teenage girls who live in the fictional town of Heartlake City. Each character has a distinctive personality, which is illustrated by her favourite activities.[3][4]
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 jewellery. 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.[16]
Lego Friends was launched following four years of research. In 2008, The Lego Group conducted 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 [the girls had] this idea of, 'There's nothing inside to do.'"[17]
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. Mauricio Affonso, Friends model designer 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."[18]
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".[17]
Lego Friends was launched in January 2012 in North America (December 2011 in France), with the release of 14 sets.[3] The first wave included 23 sets[19] and featured five friends named Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia, and Emma in suburban settings.[20] In the initial release the larger sets included the Heartlake Vet, City Park Cafe, and Butterfly Beauty Shop. Smaller sets included Stephanie's Cool Convertible, Andrea's Stage, Olivia's Invention Workshop and Emma's Splash Pool.[21]
Lego Friends sets have been released in waves in the years following the initial launch, which have expanded on the various interests of the characters and their friends. These have included various vocational, recreational and academic interests, such as agriculture, equestrianism, wildlife animal rescue and rehabilitation, and pop stardom. The range also included suburbia-themed sets, as well as an amusement park and skiing theme. The largest sets since the original wave have been the Summer Riding Camp, Heartlake Shopping Mall and Heartlake Grand Hotel.[22] According to Bricklink, there have been a total of 470 Lego Friends sets released since January 2012.[1]
In 2018, the Lego Friends line announced some physical changes to the main characters, which according to The Lego Group, were made in response to feedback from children. The changes were made to make the characters "more diverse in their appearance" and add "more depth to their personality".[23]
In 2020, The Lego Group partnered with National Geographic to release several construction sets that focused on environmental issues. The Lego Friends line launched construction sets that centred on animal protection. The sets included Baby Elephant Jungle Rescue, Jungle Rescue Base and Panda Jungle Tree House sets.[24]
Lego Friends launched a range of play cubes in 2021. Each cube includes a small brick build, a mini-doll and a pet animal, and is designed for ages 6+.[25]
On 3 January 2022, the Lego Friends brand celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Lego Group released 8 new sets to celebrate a decade of friendship.[26][27][28][29]
On 1 May 2022, The Lego Group partnered with NASA to release several construction sets that focused on Space Academy.[30]
12 new sets are due to be released in June 2022.[31][32][33]
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 colour pink in the product range and the particular range of activities enjoyed by the characters. Abi Moore of UK campaign group, Pink Stinks 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.[34] The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood nominated Lego Friends for a TOADY award, which is a "worst toy" award that is 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".[17] 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.[34]
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 [as the original Lego], 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 [among Friends sets]." 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."[17]
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.[35]
Despite the controversy, Lego Friends is one of Lego's biggest successes. In 2012, when the Friends line was launched, the line doubled sales expectations, with sales to girls tripling in the same year. In the first six months of 2012, The Lego Group's net profit rose 35% to 2bn kroner (£213m) partially driven by the success of the Friends line.[34] This success caused other construction-set companies such as Mega Blocks to introduce girl dolls.[36] Following the launch of Lego Friends, sales in the girls' market were growing as much as 20 percent each year. Three years after the launch, Lego achieved sixth place in the list of gifts that girls wanted most for Christmas, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. Lego Friends has also reappeared in The Lego Group's annual report as one of its five top selling themes, most recently in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020.[37][38][39][40] Lego's chief operating officer, Bali Padda remarked, "We tried reaching into the girls' audience a number of times over the last 15, 20 years, and this is the first time, with Friends, that we've had true success".[41]
In 2013, Lego Friends was awarded "Toy of the Year" and also "Activity Toy of the Year" by the Toy Association.[42] In 2017, the Lego Friends Amusement Park Roller Coaster was awarded "Toy of the Year" and "Construction Toy of the Year" by the Toy Association.[43]
In 2021, Heartlake City Shopping Mall (set number: 41450) was listed as one of the "Top 10 toys for Christmas 2021" by Tesco.[44]
The product line was accompanied by a series of animated short films that was released on YouTube.
In the first season, 18 web shorts were released on YouTube.
# | Title | Release date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Andrea's first day[45] | May 28, 2014 | LEGO Friends Web series |
2 | The Trapped Foal[46] | May 28, 2014 | |
3 | Bored Beach Blues[47] | May 28, 2014 | |
4 | Olivia's Science Show[48] | May 28, 2014 | |
5 | The Beast from the Blue Lagoon[49] | May 28, 2014 | |
6 | All We Need is Juice[50] | May 28, 2014 | |
7 | Quit Monkeying Around[51] | July 22, 2014 | |
8 | Speaking of parrots[52] | May 28, 2014 | |
9 | Nice prank[53] | May 28, 2014 | |
10 | Bear in trouble[54] | August 7, 2014 | |
11 | Drawn together[55] | August 7, 2014 | |
12 | A Noisy Camping Trip[56] | August 7, 2014 | |
13 | An Icy Science Show[57] | February 11, 2015 | |
14 | Painting Tony[58] | August 22, 2014 | |
15 | Jungle Cup Cakes[59] | August 22, 2014 | |
16 | What's a Heart[60] | October 17, 2014 | |
17 | Two Jacobs[61] | October 30, 2014 | |
18 | Emma's Ornament[62] | February 11, 2015 |
In the second season, 51 web shorts were released on YouTube.
# | Title | Release date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | I Heart card you[63] | January 9, 2015 | LEGO Friends Web series |
2 | Emma is moving part I[64] | January 16, 2015 | |
3 | Emma is moving part II[65] | January 22, 2015 | |
4 | What an interesting ice cream[66] | January 29, 2015 | |
5 | Big dreams[67] | February 6, 2015 | |
6 | Valentine's whaaat?[68] | February 12, 2015 | |
7 | Live from backstage[69] | February 20, 2015 | |
8 | The Unprankables[70] | October 20, 2015 | |
9 | Girls Don't Snore[71] | March 5, 2015 | |
10 | Look High and Low[72] | March 12, 2015 | |
11 | A Strong Voice[73] | October 20, 2015 | |
12 | The Juicy News[74] | October 20, 2015 | |
13 | Fool me once[75] | April 3, 2015 | |
14 | Emma’s Design Show: Easter letters[76] | April 11, 2015 | |
15 | Special delivery[77] | April 16, 2015 | |
16 | Making the Band[78] | April 22, 2015 | |
17 | Daa-aaad![79] | April 30, 2015 | |
18 | Friendship in the Air[80] | May 7, 2015 | |
19 | Our Special Day[81] | May 15, 2015 | |
20 | Life of Livi[82] | May 22, 2015 | |
21 | Bubbly personality[83] | May 27, 2015 | |
22 | A Spooky Sensation[84] | June 8, 2015 | |
23 | Skater Dogs[85] | June 14, 2015 | |
24 | Nate wants a Date[86] | June 20, 2015 | |
25 | Room for practice[87] | June 27, 2015 | |
26 | Busy with Dizzy[88] | July 4, 2015 | |
27 | The great hair day[89] | July 11, 2015 | |
28 | Picture perfect[90] | July 18, 2015 | |
29 | Jacob sings of love[91] | July 25, 2015 | |
30 | Not Just Baking[92] | August 1, 2015 | |
31 | Oh Brother, what did you do![93] | August 8, 2015 | |
32 | A Studio of Fun[94] | August 17, 2015 | |
33 | Which star are you[95] | August 22, 2015 | |
34 | A Taste of Science[96] | August 30, 2015 | |
35 | Sleep Little Skunky[97] | September 7, 2015 | |
36 | Letters of love[98] | September 14, 2015 | |
37 | Guarding Secrets[99] | September 20, 2015 | |
38 | Video wonder part I[100] | September 27, 2015 | |
39 | Video wonder part II[101] | October 5, 2015 | |
40 | Just a Girl[102] | October 10, 2015 | |
41 | The Costume Party[103] | October 20, 2015 | |
42 | Rushing Room Service[104] | October 28, 2015 | |
43 | The Tale of Two Parties[105] | November 2, 2015 | |
44 | Rabbit Nightmare[106] | November 5, 2015 | |
45 | Perfectly Planned Pizza[107] | November 7, 2015 | |
46 | The Mystery of the Missing Fruit[108] | November 21, 2015 | |
47 | Sound of the Siren[109] | November 28, 2015 | |
48 | The Lost Penguin[110] | December 5, 2015 | |
49 | One Man Choir[111] | December 12, 2015 | |
50 | The Backside of Hockey[112] | January 2, 2016 | |
51 | Friendly New Year[113] | January 2, 2016 |
In the third season, 39 web shorts were released on YouTube.
# | Title | Release date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ya Gotta Love Heartlake City[114] | February 10, 2016 | LEGO Friends Web series |
2 | Wait...Is this Like a Date?[115] | February 13, 2016 | |
3 | The Winners Take All[116] | February 20, 2016 | |
4 | Stephanie the Great[117] | February 26, 2016 | |
5 | Dare Dare[118] | March 5, 2016 | |
6 | Not All Maps Are Honest[119] | March 19, 2016 | |
7 | You Call That a Prank?[120] | April 2, 2016 | |
8 | Scrambled Eggs[121] | April 8, 2016 | |
9 | The Present That Shrank[122] | April 18, 2016 | |
10 | At the Core of the Friendship Tree[123] | May 6, 2016 | |
11 | Mother’s Day all the Way[124] | May 7, 2016 | |
12 | The Bus To Anywhere[125] | May 14, 2016 | |
13 | Daily Bread[126] | May 22, 2016 | |
14 | Uneasy Rider[127] | June 4, 2016 | |
15 | Beat a Cheat[128] | June 14, 2016 | |
16 | How To Heal a Horse[129] | June 17, 2016 | |
17 | Hot Dog Jam Time[130] | November 29, 2016 | |
18 | Houston we have a Problem[131] | July 1, 2016 | |
19 | High Hopes[132] | July 9, 2016 | |
20 | Dog Date Afternoon[133] | July 16, 2016 | |
21 | Friends who Quiz[134] | July 22, 2016 | |
22 | Beauties and the B.E.A.T.[135] | August 6, 2016 | |
23 | Cat'astrophic Bath[136] | August 12, 2016 | |
24 | No Fishing[137] | August 19, 2016 | |
25 | Scary Pottery[138] | September 2, 2016 | |
26 | Where Eagles Don't Care[139] | September 9, 2016 | |
27 | Happy Birthday, Nate[140] | September 16, 2016 | |
28 | Cherish Wheel[141] | September 23, 2016 | |
29 | The Shrinking Lake[142] | October 9, 2016 | |
30 | Invasion of the Cupcake Snatchers[143] | October 14, 2016 | |
31 | Giddy Up[144] | October 21, 2016 | |
32 | Yellow Dolly[145] | November 4, 2016 | |
33 | Shhh! Did You Hear That?[146] | November 18, 2016 | |
34 | Bark Side of the Moon[147] | November 25, 2016 | |
35 | Baguettes Feast[148] | December 2, 2016 | |
36 | The Winter Promise[149] | December 23, 2016 | |
37 | The Shoe Must Go On[150] | December 23, 2016 | |
38 | Greetings From The Past[151] | December 24, 2016 | |
39 | The Girls Who Would Be Stephanie[152] | December 24, 2016 |
In the fourth season, 32 web shorts were released on YouTube.
# | Title | Release date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Andrea’s Friendship Song[153] | January 5, 2017 | LEGO Friends Web series |
2 | Emma's Perfect Photo Day[154] | January 5, 2017 | |
3 | Mia at Work[155] | January 5, 2017 | |
4 | Olivia's Friendship Experiment[156] | January 5, 2017 | |
5 | Breakfast at Stephanie’s[157] | January 5, 2017 | |
6 | Pup My Ride[158] | February 9, 2017 | |
7 | MAMA MIA![159] | February 9, 2017 | |
8 | Quest for a Name[160] | February 9, 2017 | |
9 | Family Match[161] | February 9, 2017 | |
10 | The Long Lost Letter[162] | February 9, 2017 | |
11 | Stay Cool at the Pool![163] | February 9, 2017 | |
12 | Travel video diary part 1: Snow stunts[164] | June 1, 2017 | |
13 | Travel video diary part 2: Exciting snow trip[165] | June 1, 2017 | |
14 | Travel video diary part 3: All eyes on the siblings[166] | June 1, 2017 | |
15 | Travel video diary part 4: Sea adventures[167] | May 23, 2017 | |
16 | Travel Video Diary Part 5: Face Your Fear[168] | May 24, 2017 | |
17 | Travel Video Diary Part 6: Find Paradise[169] | May 23, 2017 | |
18 | RoboByeBaby[170] | July 7, 2017 | |
19 | Calling Dr Quest[171] | July 14, 2017 | |
20 | How To Melt A Heart[172] | May 24, 2017 | |
21 | Andrea Sings The Blues[173] | May 24, 2017 | |
22 | The Search for Patient X[174] | May 24, 2017 | |
23 | Being Patient[175] | May 24, 2017 | |
24 | There's No Business Like Froyo Business[176] | May 24, 2017 | |
25 | Smile and Say Freeze![177] | May 24, 2017 | |
26 | Mermaid Tears[178] | May 24, 2017 | |
27 | A Test Of The Heart[179] | May 24, 2017 | |
28 | My Boss, My Friend[180] | May 24, 2017 | |
29 | Olivia's Science Craze[181] | May 24, 2017 | |
30 | Mia's Police Story[182] | May 24, 2017 | |
31 | The Ups and Downs of Art Class[183] | May 24, 2017 | |
32 | Friendship Bloopers[184] | May 24, 2017 |
An animated series and TV special based on the Lego Friends theme was released to accompany the product line. It follows the adventures of the five friends in their hometown of Heartlake City.[185]
Friends of Heartlake City is an animated television series that premiered on 3 November 2013. Each episode had a runtime of 25 minutes.[186]
Lego Friends: The Power of Friendship aired on Netflix on 4 March 2016.[187] The series includes two seasons with four episodes.[185]
Friends: Girls on a Mission is a 2018 television series on Family Channel in Canada, on KidsClick in the United States, Pop in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Super RTL in Germany, and TVNZ in New Zealand.[188] The series premiered on 25 October 2018 and has continued for four seasons.[189]
Friends: Holiday Special is a 21-minute television special that premiered in YouTube on 6 November 2021.[190]
The Lego Friends animated series has been praised for its positive role models and messaging, but criticised for its consumerism. Reviewer, Emily Ashby for Common Sense Media gave the series a two star rating, commenting that, "The characters are five strong, big-hearted teen girls who are good examples of the value of friendship. Social rivalry and other troubles arise in each story, but the girls overcome them in ways that celebrate cooperation, responsibility, and individuality." The review also opined that, "this somewhat plodding series feels more like an extended commercial than it does a solid contender for kids' attention".[191]
In June 2012, two books based on the Friends theme were released. Lego Friends: Welcome to Heartlake City and Lego Friends: Perfect Pet Show were released on June 18, 2012, by DK.[192][193] DK also released a Lego Brickmaster book based on the Friends theme on September 17, 2012.[194]
Main article: Lego Friends (2013 video game) |
Lego Friends is a Lego-themed life simulation video game developed by Hellbent Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which is based on the Lego Friends theme. The game was first released for Nintendo 3DS systems on 12 November 2013, and for Nintendo DS systems on 8 April 2014.[195] The game was later released for iOS devices on 31 July 2014.[196]
Lego Friends Heartlake Rush is a 3D driving game that was developed by LEGO System A/S and is designed for children aged 4+. Players choose one of the Friends characters and navigate through a series of road obstacles. The game was released on iOS and Google Play.[197]
In July 2014, the Lego Friends brand launched a monthly children's magazine, published by Immediate Media. Editions of the magazine were regularly published over the course of six and a half years, until it was discontinued with Issue 78. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), the magazine had achieved an average circulation of 22,468 between January and June 2020, which was lower than the Lego City magazine at 33,677 and the Lego Ninjago magazine at 54,423.[198] The magazine had also received some controversy over its content in 2019, when a comic strip was criticised for sexist characterisation.[199]
In January 2022, the Lego Friends magazine relaunched in the UK by Signature Publishing.[200]
In 2015, a Friends themed land was introduced to Legoland California, named Lego Friends Heartlake City, featuring a splash area, Lego models of the characters, a meet and greet area and a 15-minute live show.[201] In the same year, a themed land was opened at Legoland Windsor Resort, featuring a live show and Heartlake City Express Train.[202] Heartlake City also made its debut at Legoland Florida in May 2015, when a themed area of the park was launched featuring two attractions named Mia's Riding Adventure and Heartlake Mall theater.[203] In November 2021, Lego Friends themed land was announced for the upcoming launch of Legoland Shanghai Resort in 2024.[204][205]
On 2 February 2016, Warner Brothers released a Lego Friends film on Blu-ray titled Lego Friends: Girlz 4 Life. The 2016 American Direct-to-DVD computer-animated film follows the story of popstar, Livi, who comes to Heartlake City. The Friends characters are forced to devise a plan when Livi's manager steals their hit song called Girlz.[206]
The Lego Friends line made a prominent appearance in the 2019 film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, during scenes set within the SyStar System.[207]