Soupperson1

Hei Hei has leaked and many are saying it’s the best retail buildable character ever! I agree that he looks great. Moana 2 has mixed reception but it’s making oodles of money. Im hoping we at least get Kotu (maybe with a new mould?) and mini dolls of Matangi and Hele. :)

I think we’ll know next year if there’s new minifigure sets how well the sets sold. Sets usually have a two year development? I do wonder if ANY of the sets from last year are selling well, mini doll ones included as they all seem to be on sale more regularly than other themes and not have very long shelf spans. I hope they sold well because I would like Disney sets both mini doll and minifigure for many years to come.

The Moana film was originally a show. If they were making sets for the show they might be able to fast track them!

Here’s the four new sets: https://bouwsteentjes.info/lego-disney-2024-sets/ Im guessing Rapunzel’s Tower is a retail exclusive or not a January release after all. :P

Apparently the promo is only available on City, Monkie Kid, Friends, Dots, Ninjago, Classic and Creator 3 in 1 so not even all unlicensed sets! I’m delaying a lot of my 2022 purchases until this releases on the 27th, but even then I think I’ll be struggling to meet this threshold!

I haven’t seen many deep dives into discussing the reboot! So here is an essay length of thoughts from someone who grew up with Friends! :) I’m going to refer to them as G1 = Generation 1 (2012 - 2017), G2 = Generation 2 (2018 - 2022), G3 = Generation 3 (2023 - ?) I think the first reboot accomplished very little. I think making the line more diverse was good! It just didn’t really add anything else. Getting rid of all the secondary characters besides Liam and Stephanie parents (because they were in production) will never sit right for me! Especially because it was only a short term fix. Emma as a character has two sets of biological parents and that’s just really weird. It was not giving a big enough marketing push. There were no Ameet books, a decision that still puzzles me given that they are so popular for other themes. H&M, JustHype and Adidas have all had plenty of Ninjago clothes within the last two years. I’m pretty sure there has been one Friends top in H&M. Other household items like storage containers, bottles, lunch boxes, etc. were lacking too. Yes they existed but not in the quantity as before. From 2018 to this year only Olivia and Stephanie received keychains. Then they were slow to incorporate the redesigns into LEGOlands. I know a few didn’t update the performers’ costumes until mid 2019, a whole year after the reboot. Then they and some LEGO Stores kept the old designs of the characters on display. In 2020 they released a new DVD with a compilation of the G1 episodes. :S It just felt that they didn’t care. I hope this reboot is cared about! It’s fancy press release months out and confirmed ameet books is at least exciting. I really hope this line celebrates minidolls. Nearly all of the previous upplementary materials for G1 and G2 were all just of their CGI forms. The lack of send off is just sad. Part of me thinks they didn’t have time to prepare! I think there’s just so many little things like Andrea never getting a horse riding uniform that they could have done if they had known. Santa and the “future sets” are the only suggestions that they knew! The future sets don’t all seem set in the future to me except for Olivia’s. Andrea’s theatre says HLC High suggesting it’s a high school play. So I wonder if these becoming future based sets could have been a quick fix too? At least they were all very good sets. I do think it’s sad we never got anniversary figures, a collection of the five in prom dresses, the girls besides Olivia in their school uniforms and G2 Olivia in her G1 clothing! I strongly dislike ageing up the girls. I think they should just be casual friends with the new cast. If I had to age up the girls I would have had them be 19 not mother age. I just think giving them definitive futures is closing so many creative doors. :P The one positive I can think of is I like how we have child, teenage, young adult and adult versions of the characters. I do not like Mia’s adult version. Why isn’t she wearing lime and where are her freckles gone? It’s simple things like that which would be easy to fix. Mia having a white child seems like a misguided choice. River was one of the few characters from the show to make it into the sets. I understand not everyone marries their high school sweetheart but it’s not like the reboot had much depth in the storytelling department. Then if she wasn’t going to marry River she moves to Africa. I think this was the perfect opportunity for LEGO to have a mixed race lead. The new cast is too big. 8 (same as the number on this list!) just feels like a lot. I think 6 would be a good number. Then have a bigger focus on secondary characters coming in and out. Livi is still the most notable Friends secondary character because she appeared in so many sets, many of which were devoted to her! I think having characters like that would have been a good idea. I just think group outfits and gimmick sets (Heart Boxes, cubes, the 2017 interest sets etc.) will be harder to implement when there’s 8 characters. There’s bedroom sets rumored already. So maybe they’ll split the gimmick sets across two waves? Boys! I have wanted a male lead since 2012, but I’ve been saying it’s ridiculous Friends hasn’t had one since Nya became a lead over in Ninjago. Three feels like a lot at once, but I think it’s harder for parents or bullies to say this is for girls when there there is a closer ratio of males! I like how these boys seem to be getting the pastel treatment! I didn’t like how for the vast majority of G1 and G2 the boys outfits did not use traditional Friends colours like the girls’ outfits did. I’m sure many boys playing with these sets will be glad that they can now customise themselves in their favourite colours. I like how all 6 skin tones are represented! I really don’t think G2 could have survived with just the 3 skin tones, though they could have added three new characters and the number of friends would have been the same. XD I do think it’s bad optics in a traditionally girl focused theme that the darkest skin tone is a male character. Why is there no traditional girly girl? None of these characters are wearing pink in their default outfit! Only one of the characters are wearing a skirt too where in both G1 and G2 four were. In G1 all the girls had lipstick, in G2 all but Mia had lipstick and now none of the main cast. Or I’m sure many children playing with these sets will want an unapologetic girly character and not to give them one in the default looks is just weird. Olly likes fashion, but even he is not opulent as he could be! No signature colours? I think for kids toys I think this is a good way to keep the characters easily distinguishable. I think G2 went w bit overboard at the beginning with colour schemes for characters but found a nice balance at the end. According to the Brickset interview, they didn’t do this because they thought it was too restrictive. There’s so many variants of different colours I think they could incorporate it subtly. Aliya might wear a light pink shirt and matching shoes in her default outfit but in another she might wear just a metallic pink pin. No logos either because that was also restrictive? :S Stephanie’s main hobby being sports did not restrict her from baking, taking care of pets, scuba diving, doing ballet or going to the jungle. Just because they have a core interest doesn’t mean they have to be tied to that in every set. I really disagree with their interview there! Also it’s clear most of the characters still do have a defining trait. :/ Aliya - An Arabic name! She has my favourite new hairpiece. Andrea had the first afro textured hairpiece (unless you count the Afro, which I do not as that character felt more like a costume a la Disco Stu from the Simpsons) so it’s nice to see the new black girl has a new one! The amount of Afro textured hairs must be in the mid to late teens now? I wish she had the darkest skin tone and Zac had medium brown, but it is nice that we have a dark skinned female lead. I like how she’s the brainy one too! I don’t think it feels forced either. The black girl just happens to be the bookworm. The direction of her fashion doesn’t feel very nerdy or smart to me. Obviously she wouldn’t have to wear preppy clothes all the time, but as they’re launching the character I think it would have been neat! :P They already updated her bio to get rid off the ‘she allows you to copy her homework line’. I don’t know how they thought that would go over well? It’s a bit alarming to see them already updating things out of the gate, but hopefully this is just a one time error. Autumn - I really don’t like how her hair parts in the same direction as Aliya. That makes both feel less unique. I still don’t think we have a good general braid piece as this feels too specific. I think this would have been perfect if they pulled all her hair back. I really like how she has dark orange hair. Mia having dark red and red hair always confused me. I really like how many freckles she has too! Autumn wears sand green shorts in all four outfits we’ve seen. But on the plus side she’s the only character with a signature colour - green! All of her outfits have a similar style and fit her outdoorsy personality. I like how they mixed both Mia’s personalities (outdoor adventurer and animal lover) into her daughter. The limb difference is a neat inclusion too. Variety in figures is always a plus. It’s just a shame this will make swapping her tops harder. No one will be able to wear her tops and she won’t be able to wear others. Leo - I didn’t like the Rex Dangervest hair on minifigures OR minidolls as I think it sits too high! I think TLNM Jay hairpiece or classic skater hair would have been better choices, but I guess they picked this to make him more unique? I really like how he’s wearing coral in the three outfits we’ve seen! I like his big bushy eyebrows too! I think food is a good shtick for a LEGO Friends character and I’m glad he is a new guy in town like G1 Olivia! Zac - His hair mould seems way too similar to the one that just debuted in the park set! And he doesn’t have a shtick that can be translated into LEGO very well. Him being good at everything is a funny commentary on how the Friends characters were in so many different situations. But they were good at everything and still managed to have a core trait. :P Stephanie was the weakest of the G1 characters as her trait was vague - organising, but this is some how worse! He has a video game shirt in one of the renders, so like G1 Stephanie he’s already borrowing from his peers. None of the characters have science or sports as their core trait and I think he should have had one of these! My friend pointed out since his the cousin of Aliya, it’s possible he could be Liz’ son, wouldn’t that be neat! Liann - I LOVE LOVE LOVE her hairpiece. I’ve been wanting one like that for years! I imagine she’s Emma’s daughter if she’s an artistic East Asian. This means Emma probably didn’t end up with Ethan. I like the added trait of Liann being disorganised, this separates her from Emma and makes her character have a little more depth. I don’t like the colour matching in her default outfit, but the overall one looks really cute. Olly - They clearly have too many characters as fashion, photography video editing should fall under Liann’s art umbrella. I do like how Olly has traditionally feminine hobbies. I think he should have gotten the art trait, Liann sports and Zac science. I love how he’s wearing pastel colours and it’s a boy who’s the one with the bright blond hair. His glasses are cute too! I can’t tell if he’s light nougat or warm tan as he looks darker than our two red heads and paler than Liann. I really don’t like his new hair piece. It just doesn’t feel unique. I think LEGO have become wasteful with their moulds in the recent years! Making him from a working class family is nice as stuff like that isn’t usually discussed in childrens media. However the fact it’s coming from LEGO, a high end toy feels a bit off. Paisley - Her mother is a late famous singer. I hope it’s not Livi… w The description says she was famous in the 90’s and Livi’s tour sticker says it took place in 2015. However they’re clearly messing around with time if these sets are set in modern day. So let’s see if they really do kill off Livi. :S The shy musician is always a good character for a piece of children’s media. I think her hairpiece has been requested a lot too. Marceline from Adventure Time is coming to a lot of peoples minds but this style of hair is popular in animation. Rosalina and Elizabeth Lioness have similar dos too! I think Paisley should have had dark tan, FYO, medium nougat or medium tan hair. Two red heads when the colour is so rare is a weird choice to me. Dark red doesn’t really look like auburn either. If they needed two redheads she should have had bright orange hair, like her sister. I think more kids would have related to it! Paisley’s fashion seem competitive. Her tops seem to be bright and summery, while her trousers are long and baggy. This new trouser mould also feels a bit excessive. As it’s basically the regular pants, but just covers half the shoes. Nova - I think it was a great choice to make the nougat character blond and hazel eyed. It makes her stand out from the majority of other LEGO characters with that skin tone. I think her hairpiece is okay. I think they probably could have reused one instead? I am at least glad she has short hair! Her fashion so far feels more tom boyish than traditional gamer girl. I’d be praising this if the other girls didn’t have more gender neutral outfits. There’s a stark contrast between the fashion styles of Zac and Olly. All the girls seem like they could wear the same clothes. It looks like they will be incorporating her love of video games into sets though. That’s a fun trait. She will also be interested in science fiction and horror according to the Brickset interview. I’m curious how that will be implemented. Alternate heads with different facial expressions are confirmed to be coming back! I hope we get more funky ones for females. The only two scared faces we have are male! It looks like hair accessories are slowly going the way of the dodo. I think that’s such a loss. When I got the €10 Mia puppy set at 11 my favourite part other than the dog was the different hair accessories. I had briefly had that with the Kingdoms Queen and her crown. Now I could put a bow on that Queen and make Mia or her dog a royal. My mind was blown when I got Stephanie’s Convertible when it had the packet that included sunglasses, a star, a heart, a differently shaped crown and flowers in addition to the bows. I think these as well as the top hat, party hat, ear phones and cat ears can really add to storytelling. I think they should introduce more representing professions and embrace the ability for boys to wear them. The only male hairpiece with an accessory hole is the birthday suit guy from series 18. Neither Olly’s or Zac’s hairs seem to have accessory holes. :( Aliya’s, Nova’s and Liann’s don’t seem to either. It’s really strange that Paisley’s and Autumn’s do. The teacher in the school also has an accessory pin hole in her hairpiece. So now you’re excluding some characters from additional play. I understand this was to make the pieces more reusable on minifigures where the hole would usually remained infilled and thus look unsightly to some BUT some of these hairpieces already look similar to existing ones. Accessory holes would make them unique and justify the new mould. Animals - I think it’s interesting to see that they didn’t take this opportunity to undo the Friends style of animal. Not only are they continuing to use those old moulds they’re creating more! I think it’s kind of a shame Friends can’t create animal moulds that could be shared in regular minifigure sets. Then the eye prints could set them apart. I just think it’s less exciting now when a Friends animal is produced as we know a regular system one is down the line and it’ll use a less cartoony style. I do continue to like these moulds even if I prefer the minifigure style ones a little more. The Dashaund with missing limbs is such a welcome and unexpected inclusion! The big dogs also look great too. Now we have three sizes of a Friends style Labrador! Box designs - No more curves and teal. I like these much better, but this is quite the transition. Logo - I never get why most rainbow logos don’t use yellow! This I don’t like as much as the original. That felt more warm and friendly. :P This font is too sharp. I think they should have changed the colours and butterfly, but kept the font. 41724 Paisley's House - Isn’t it kind of sad how this set is basically the same as the Juniors set and it’s $10€ more? I think that Juniors one, Stephanie’s 4+ house and this one are all really good first LEGO sets that lend themselves to play. I’m really curious of what the interior will look like. The exterior is almost identical to those previous two sets with different colours, but I suppose why fix what isn’t broken? Lavender doesn’t traditionally go with orange so it’s nice to see them encouraging kids to try new combinations. I don’t think it looks that bad in practice. I’m really excited to see the inside. I do think it says a lot that despite the efforts to be more diverse they still launch with the houses of two palest characters. :/ Paisley’s sister looks really similar to Ava. I guess they aren’t continuing with her but this almost feels like an imitation. :P The dad looks like a stereotypical dad. I’m glad the budget is extending to the secondary characters as his three new pieces allow him to stand out. I do find it a bit worrisome a bunch of young children will pretend he and Paisley are the parents of her sister. I think it might have been a better choice to have Pasiley’s house be the bigger set as then the late mother could be more easily conveyed? 41727 Dog Rescue Centre - Here is where I start to be confused by the claims of new colour schemes and architectural designs. This really wouldn’t look out of place in any previous Friends wave. I don’t like the ladder up to the treehouse as it feels out of place when the rest is designed with dogs in mind! I think overall the set looks really fun and I like all the other design choices. I don’t like the colours together here, but that’s just personal preference! It’s wave one and people including me will want to get all the friends quickly without having to buy eight sets so I don’t mind there’s two included in all of these other sets. I think this set feels like it’s missing a character though? I guess you only need a vet and a patron, but I think someone in a regular volunteer outfit would have been neat. So this lovely looking vet doesn’t have to work the counter in her scrubs! I really do think she looks lovely though. This is our first non light nougat minidoll with freckles! I love the use of medical gloves (I hope this means Cinderella and Belle can get gloves again and Tiana for the first time!), her recoloured hair piece and even the torso design is cute! I love the dogs too. The Labrador apparently will have a smiling variation in another set, I think that’s a really fresh idea! I love the super happy pug too. I think these variants will really stand out to kids and collectors in the long run. :) 41728 Downtown Diner - This is an admitted tribute to City Park Café, which I still think is one of the best Friends sets despite being the first! I think the references are minimal but it’s nice to at least see something. :P I think this diner has very good building techniques for an age aimed at children. It looks equally fun to play with. There appears to be a arcade machine and juke box! I think it would be improved if they some how managed to fit the booth inside (I never liked how the outdoor seating area of the City Park Café wasn’t attached) and the kitchen was a bit bigger. The kitchen accessory pack is another great set of moulds I’m sad to see retired! I really like all the recolours of the set here. My favourite are the dual doors are finally available in a regular transparent! Wouldn’t it have been fun if Marie was included, but as an older woman? That would have also referenced Dottie in the Drifting Diner set! References like that are what I want and I think they’d be so easy to do. I’m curious if the waiter minidoll will be non binary? The interviews said this reboot is going heavy on the representation and I think a non binary character is an easy way to get some without making any new moulds. They could just be a man with long eyelashes and mint hair. But even that’s fun as the most experimental the male characters got in G1 and G2 was wearing purple. :P This waiter is not the star of the minidolls though,that’s Liann’s helmet and hair combo. I think since Friends’ debut 2012 that mould has been in high demand and it’s amazing to see it finally becoming a reality! I think the sassy looking black kitten is also a show stealer. :) 41730 Autumn’s House - I really like the design of this set and the price seems miraculously fair for 2023. I don’t think the colour scheme of the house goes with the architectural design or autumnal colour scheme. Mia’s house with medium nougat, tan, medium blue and purple worked much better. We can’t see much of the interior from the reveal video, but I’m pretty sure Mia doesn’t have a room which is kind of sad. She really did just become a Friends parent. The foal’s stable is made with very few pieces yet still looks decent, I’d love to see more side builds like this looking forward. Sizing things down means more can be included! The rocking chairs are excellent builds! I think Stephanie felt a bit random in Andrea’s house. Aliya and Leo feel less awkward here as there’s two of them, but I can’t keep but thinking who could have been included instead! If Autumn is an only child they could have extended out her family! It would have been nice to see Mia’s husband/partner, uncle Daniel, Mia’s cousin Ava all grown up, Grandma Ann, Grandpa Angus or Great Grandma Nora! The dog and horse recolours look good. Im glad to see the red bird with a print appearing in more sets too! 41731 Heartlake International School - I do not like the design of this. The flat roofs, sputtering of random colours against white and random 3D designs are not for me. I’m sure they’ll appeal to some people as it certainly looks unique! Gaudy in my eyes, but unique. The interior from the reveal video looks jam packed! There’s so much variety and so much to do! I really think this set would have been a slam dunk if it just had a better exterior and colour scheme. I wonder why they don’t include balls that can roll in Friends sets anymore? Those are obviously more fun to pretend to play basketball with than the technic ball. Oh and a medium blue bike seems like one of the worst choices for a new recolour. We need a bike in orange or a shade of purple! Who needs medium blue when medium azure exists? :P I really like the look of the teacher and it’s nice to see an Asian boy. G2 never had a male Asian minidoll besides Emma’s dad and microdoll brother.  So overall I’m optimistic about where this line is going! It just needs some tweaks and it’ll be flying. Oh to break up all the text, I really love this image! It just looks so warm and inclusive! :)

Nope @sunhuntin was right it’s Charlotte’s cat Marcel according to the description. He does bear a striking resemblance to Marie and I’m sure most people will use him as her! Does anyone know who the minifigure with the Haunted Mansion is? Just a random park guest?

I can’t believe it took until hours before we we’re expecting the images to be revealed for the set to be proven to be fake.

I hope people’s dislike of Triton doesn’t stop the set from selling! I really think it’s a great set, albeit a bit pricy. It feels very unique and the shaping and colours are excellent. The interiors are also very good and they have perfected the dolphin chariot builds! The fact we’re finally getting new characters in this theme is also very exciting. Even the unnamed octopus makes me happy as that’s a print designed for an official Disney character, even if it’s a background one! Only having one of Ariel’s sisters was always disappointing, just doubling it two makes the line up feel so much more full. :P Now with her and Triton, The Little Mermaid has six different characters as minidolls which is quite an achievement. Frozen 2 has 4 and then every other film only has 3, 2 or 1. I think the Elsa set would have been vastly improved if it came with a door, even if it was built out of leaves. I feel like the set would look more complete and be more playable as a result. The minidoll of Snow Queen Elsa is great and yay to us finally getting new outfits for the characters too. It’s just a shame her hair couldn’t be more accurate. Those Rescue Rangers BrickHeadz are some of the best yet IMO! I believe this is the first set based on a Disney Channel property too? The only other one I can think of is the cancelled Phineas and Ferb Game! I guess they couldn’t balance the beard properly on the torso. So they they thought it would be better to render it as a mask than as a single head piece to appease minifigure fans. This way at least the eyes line up even if they’re not the eyes minifigure fans like.

Hmm maybe this was an ill-guided decision to appeal to minifigure fans? I can’t imagine anyone will be pleased that their minifigure Triton will have minidoll eyes and a nose, even if he’s only semi-purist. :P

Medium Brown definitely seems to be making a comeback. Check out Priyanka in the high quality images for 41699 and 41718. Nougat and medium nougat are clearly displayed close to her in next sets and they don’t match her skin tone!

Hmm what if the mystery set is tied to Disencanted or Hocus Pocus 2? I feel like they’re good enough fits. Even if they’re not based on the sequels I could easily see them doing a single set based on either of the first films and it selling decently.

I wonder if Disney Princess (other than Raya) underperformed in 2021? Nine sets for the whole year seems kind of low. There’s no rumours of a follow up to The Ice Castle either. :( As for these three sets I really hope the big one is a joint set. I’d rather individual sets of course, but if this is the way we get Pocahontas I’m all for it! I wonder why they’re making another 4+ Frozen set with Elsa and Olaf when we just got one? Wouldn’t it make more sense if it included Sven or Kristoff with Elsa? And then they could sell both simultaneously. :P I’ll keep hoping for a new hairpiece and dress colour for Cinderella, but my hopes are low after Tiana looked nearly the exact same as before in her set. I wonder why they went with Mickey and Friends over Frozen for Dots? I guess to appear more gender neutral? Oh well hopefully these will be successful enough that we get some Princess and Frozen stuff down the line. I’m very excited for the potential prints and interesting 1x1 moulds to come out of these sets. More Mickey and Friends 4+ sets is exciting! I really hope at least one of these gives us a plain clothes version of Goofy. :P Characters Clarabelle too! Or at the very least Figaro.

Ah so no zoo theme like we speculated! Instead there’s just one wildlife set for Mia. I assume that’s where the Rajah mould will be reused. :) I’m really happy that there’s sets staring the main 5 again. It was really odd that the winter wave had none. This is a much better way of paying tribute to 10 years IMO! These 5 sets have very generous piece counts and I can’t wait to see what they do with them. The site that lists the sets has the name for 41708 as a Roller Disco Skating Rink, which is even more exciting! The Recycling Truck is another concept that we haven’t gotten in Friends yes. Hopefully it’ll be executed well. All the other sets are rehashes, but as there is an even enough balance I don’t mind. Especially if they are good!

I don’t really care what the €100/$ set is as long as it’s minifigure scale and comes with at least one new character. :P I think it’s definitely a possibility if there’s really only one regular DC set this year they could make it not Batman related or at the very least just have him as a side character. Again I’d take a Batman set if it meant us getting characters like Cassandra Cain, Batwing, Hush, Mad Hatter, Punchline etc. It’s not like they’ve done all the Gotham locations either! I still think we should get a goofy set for the Bat hot air balloon and a semi serious one for the Battrain too. :P

I believe the Repair Robot’s face is a reference to an old print! At least it reminds me of the classic print used by both Ann Droid (below) and the Spyrius Droid! I love when LEGO sneaks vintage references into sets as a big fan of the company’s history! Fantastic review as always Whitefang! I’m always impressed with your dedication. :)

What a fun March wave! 41696 Ambulance - Another amazing €10 set. This is the cheapest set to ever feature a male minidoll! We haven’t gotten the tan standing dog in years and this seems to be a direct reference to the 2013 print. Of course the build of the vehicle is blocky, but it is 4+ and I think it’s shaped better than the usual 4+ car. I really like how the prints match the Vet and their general graphic design. 41698 Animal Playground - This set uses so many random colours, but I think they all mix really well. Which also means we get a bunch of bricks in rarer colours! None of the builds are groundbreaking, but they are all good and will certainly offer a lot of play opportunities for kids. What I find most shocking is Andrea and Liz both get new outfits. Both of which are very good, Liz’ rainbow hoodie in particular is very cute. Three dogs is always a win too! 41699 Animal Adoption Cafe - I don’t understand why Friends needs so many cafés. This would have been just fine as an animal shelter. XP The building looks way too flat and I think the striping and vines just draw attention to that and make it look even worse. At least there was an attempt with shaping around the door and roofs. It’s really nice to see the Home Alone door making a return, it’s perfect for a dog flap! The build for the sign looks too blocky and the graphic design doesn’t ring as Friends to me. What does is the stand up sign, it’s a reuse of a sticker from the first Heartlake High! The side builds all look good and with a decent interior I think this set might be saved. Three animals again which is another win. The new beanie combo works much better here on Olivia than it did Stephanie, as the hair textures match. I’m really sick of them putting this outfit for Olivia in set after set. One of the great aspects of the pre reboot were whatever set you’d buy you’d get different combinations of outfits so you’d always get a different one. It’s quite likely now that kids would have this Olivia multiple times. :S On the upside Priyanka looks great! Another new skin tone?! Plus she has an exclusive torso here too! 41718 Pet Day Care - I think this set is really good! It looks unlike any building Friends has ever done before but really feels like something that belongs in this great theme. Usually I don’t like when buildings use too many colours but I think this really works. Except the stripe of green in the middle and white at the bottom. Everything else from the slides, the overall building design to the giant sign (with the classic Friends’ graphic design) I really like! Again more side builds and lots of potential for fun! The figures I think are the only thing that lets this set down. The tan dog is new and great but the other three animals are super common. Ethan, Emma and River all look great but again reuse exact outfits from previous sets. It’s a shame they couldn’t have made room in the budget for some males with medium nougat or of Priyanka’s skin tone, as those are really missing from these 12 sets which are otherwise very diverse. I do love Priyanka’s torso here! 41709 Beach House - I think this set looks sizeable and worth its price. Kids will also surly love such a spacious interior with different areas including a table tennis game, pool, kitchen, garden, bedroom, kitchen and gaming console! I just really don’t like the colour blocking and I feel like the overall exterior design could be improved. Like the adoption café and the apartments this set is very flat. There is some attempt with the orange part of adding some texture, but I really don’t think it’s quite enough. Even if does connect with the apartments as others suggest I think they could have made it more dynamic like the new modular Harry Potter Hospital Wing, which is 8+ and this is 7+. Two new colours of the fantastic Vespa inspired piece is very exciting as is the recolour of the sitting cat! The banana boat is super clever and the jet ski looks very nice for the few pieces it uses. The minidolls are great! I don’t think that blond girl looks like Stephanie beyond the little hints of medium azure in her outfit. But her three new pieces do look great! Mia has a new torso and legs as does Sebastian.

Maybe I didn’t word myself correctly! Basically what I mean for 10 years I was hoping we’d have a big celebration of Andrea, Emma, Mia, Olivia and Stephanie. But instead their roles and personalities were reduced and they no longer feel like main characters in their theme beyond them appearing in more sets than other characters. For the hairs I don’t think their original hair textures which they’re continuing to use match these new styles. Stephanie is going from having straight hair in one set to wavy hair in another. I know this obviously happens in real life but obviously here the characters have less detailing so it’s harder to identify them. Plus if characters can have any hairpiece in their colour than what will make them different from other future minidolls with the same skin tone and eye colour? :P As for outfits for instance Andrea used to have musical notes on her clothing and Stephanie would wear more sporty gear which were reflective of their personalities. These new outfits are made to be more generic and less character specific. The 2018 reboot had a strong focus on colours being associated with each character and Mia’s outfit in the treehouse features none of those signature colours. As for the gendered issue. I celebrate Friends using a vast colour palette across these set and continuing to incorporate pink and purple. I agree the sets themselves feel less gendered, especially with the inclusion of boys in more sets. But the packaging is the same as previous years beyond the five girls in the corner? The boxes are still purple and the logo is still outlined in pink. I don’t think removing the main characters from the box makes the sets feel less gendered. Ninjago is continuing to have artwork of its characters on the box art as is Disney Princess. I don’t think most people will care about these little things, but they just leave me a bit disappointed and jealous after Ninjago’s great anniversary year. This just feels like a regular year for Friends. A regular year that happens to have very good sets and I’m glad that everyone seems to agree on that!

It seems we might be getting a new shade of brown in between reddish brown and medium nougat in March. I first thought it was odd when they included 10 interchangeable heads in the Hogwarts trunk as there’s only 4 skin tones but I thought the ones of the new skin tone were just as a result of bad rendering. However today the new minidoll Priyanka appears to have a darker skin tone than both Andrea, Liz and Layla who are all on the same page of the catalogue she appears in. You can see the new brown second from the top and on this figure. And in @Rambo260’s side by side comparison. Priyanka is on the right!

Here’s some long thoughts from a die hard Friends fan since the beginning. :P I don’t like for the 10 year anniversary they choose to stop focusing on the main 5. They’ve been removed from both sides of the box art, none of the sets are centred around them and poor Andrea only comes in one set. I think a more logical thing would’ve been to add to their line up. Even when they do appear, they don’t always look like themselves as both Stephanie and Emma’s hair textures completely change with their alternative hair pieces. Their outfits are all designed to be used by other characters too which is another toll on their identities. Part of Friends’ identity was the fact it had main characters with such strong interests and associations as a result, without a core cast it doesn’t feel that different from City. The only acknowledgment of Friends being 10 is on the Treehouse box, the print of the boom box in the Treehouse being the same as the one in Andrea’s 2012 stage, reintroducing the sitting down cat mould and bringing Daniel and Dottie back from 2018. I guess they didn’t want to do gold figures as there would be complaints that DC, Marvel and Minecraft didn’t either. They could have had references to old sets for instance the café in Main Street could have referenced the first City Park Café. Or at least have brought important characters pre reboot like Livi and Matthew back or make characters appearing in the current show for the first time in mini doll form. I guess the extra facial expressions and new skin tone might be the celebration but the former is only for four mini dolls and it’s high time the latter should’ve been done! :P 30416 Market Stall - This is even a better value than the polybag from last year! The pieces here are rarer and all very nice. I think the 2 in 1 feature feels a bit forced here when it didn’t last year but overall fantastic value! 41695 Pet Clinic - These 4+ sets are getting blockier and more <insert that tiresome argument> each year. Ironically the colour blocking is getting better and better. The shads used here are all nice! Is it just me or are these getting less prints? Oh well here what’s mattered is the animals and kids get three! I like how they’ve already given the Reddish brown skin tone a vet torso! Now we just need one for a nougat girl. XP I love this skin tone on minidolls I don’t know what took them so long to introduce it. I feel like this should have been a different character to Nandi though as this hairpiece does not hold a candle the one from the amazing one from the street food set. 41697 Turtle Protection Vehicle - What a glorious little €10 set. I think anyone who is a casual collector of Friends should look into getting this set. You get three animals (including the red crab and baby turtle that can be used with minifigures), two minidolls (Layla in particular looks very nice as our first medium nougat character with glasses and Belle’s hair in dark brown), a nice ATV build and some of the new neon yellow! 41700 Beach Glamping - This is a very good set that improves on the last glamping one. I dont think this set feels sizeable for €40 though. The size of the centre piece mostly comes from the fabric piece. Then there’s not much to do inside besides cook in a basic fireplace, sit on a stool and sleep on the most simple bed build. The raised nature is nice though and I like the boardwalk leading up to it. The wind turbine is a cute little build too. My favorite built is actually the outhouse. It looks very nice, the colours mesh well and it has a lot of playability for its size. The campfire is a tiny but effective build as well but those stools show the Friends don’t even have their signature colour coded items across the sets anymore. :( As for figures Andrea and Stephanie having reused outfits from several sets and their normal faces cement that this is a big skip for me. Boo as I love Daniel’s torso and legs! 41701 Street Food Market - Maybe all LEGO sets have just become more expensive and this seems like a bit much for €50, but comparatively it’s quite a good value. I really like all third builds, it’s very difficult to make things distinct yet cohesive and they pulled that off with a varied colour palette. Bravo to the designer! I really like the simple eating area too. Oh and all the useful stickers! Nachos and a different type of sushi! Stickers aren’t too bad when they’re used right. ;P Then there’s the new chopsticks piece, new sushi tile and orange slice print. To top it off this set comes with an amazing figure selection. I love everything about Nandi (4 exclusive pieces!) and Sebastian is really good too. I feel like Sebastian’s alternative head is the only one that’s exciting as the other two are variants on being happy. 41702 Canal Houseboat - I’m shocked it took Friends this long to do one of these it’s a perfect fit with brand. The colour scheme makes me kind of glad they waited so long though as this is very gender neutral. The shaping I’m equally impressed with and I’m very happy to see them using as much space as possible without it feeling cluttered. What it does feel like is charming. Im not sure they really could have done any better with this budget. If I don’t get this set it’ll be because of space. XD The figure selection like the last set is excellent. I’m so happy we already have a set with all four skin tones and three of the sets this wave have two males. Layla has two new pieces too and Elijah has three! After Naidi’s, Mia’s is my favourite of the new hair moulds. There’s a lot of character to that great looking little piece. :) 41703 Friendship Treehouse - This is the flagship set and I’ll admit it looks incredible. It’s massive and once again the colour scheme doesn’t feel too girly. Dark brown being used for the tree is a welcome surprise. Remember for the first few years of Friends when they’d mix tan and green shades into the tree to make the brighter? XP I also like them encouraging customisation by having the treehouse be in a repair stage. The wheelchair lift is very inclusive and cleverly integrated into the build. Whoever decided to attach it to the wind turbine deserves a high five. Than the interior is packed with all the essentials. My favourite part might be the inclusion of the honey making area. That is so simple but the amount of play that come from those few pieces is vast. Oh I also like the swing! The butterflies, bees, birds and bunny are all nice inclusions and once again impressed with the figure selection. The three casual torsos are very nice, I feel like Olivia’s didn’t really need any printing. I adore River’s scared face. I wonder if Olivia and Jackson get alternative heads too and they’re just hiding them? I think it be fun if one of them had an eating or honey covered mouth. :P Im still not sold on the wheelchair build but I appreciate its inclusion nonetheless. This is one of the few sets next year that gives you a really good value for your money at retail. I’m don’t think I’ll get it as this thing is huge and I think Mia’s 2018 Treehouse got a lot of what this set accomplished at a smaller size and price point. :P I do think it’s a shame that they advertising this as the anniversary set but there’s only one legacy reference. :( 41704 Main Street Building - Should this not just be called Main Street? I think those are pretty clearly different buildings. XP The build on the right is very deluxe and I think the detailing is on the level of a modular building. A modular building with Friends colours. While I appreciate the gender neutrality of most of the other sets it’s nice to see a set being unapologetically girly every now and again. I don’t think there’s much to the designs of the other buildings as they’re just flat, but again the colours are nice. I like the modularity of the set and how many different options you can get from it. Unfortunately I think that the flat buildings were compromised to allow this to happen. The elevator hasn’t really compromised any slack, but I don’t think it looks very good but I’m happy for all the fun play experience it’ll give the kids who end up with this set. As for what the buildings represent I’m a little underwhelmed. The café, hairdresser and food shop are all very full for their small sizes but they’re all concepts we’ve had before. Why not take advantage of this unique opportunity and do things that wouldn’t be able to sell as a Friends set on its own like a small police station, florist or bookshop. That aside I do love the double doors. :P I also like the detailing in the apartments on the side, I think the one in the middle leaves a little to be desired. I know they explain that away with the moving truck but I feel like that’s a lazy excuse when they could have easily included a tiny kitchen to make it feel complete. As for the moving truck I do like it. Yay for a new concept for Friends and those useful stickers on the boxes. I also really like the inclusion of the skatepark pipe which includes a coral trash can! I also adore the way they designed main street with that patterned design, the white street lamps and cute additions like a cycle rack, flower pots and fire hydrant. I’m tempted to add this design to my own Main Street even though I’m sure it’ll be very costly. I just love it. :3 Oh the new dog piece is adorable and I’m glad to see Goldie again! Street Dwelling Minidolls - Again I would have rather had one off character archetypes for this huge set as we get chances to have civilians in basically every other set. That being said I like the look of all of these folks. I didn’t get the set this Stephanie outfit came in so I’m glad to see it here as I think it’s one of the best this team have designed. Savannah looks so cool with her hat. I hope this is a character that continues to stick around. Harper and Evelyvn really stand out for generic teens. I love both their tops and Harper’s legs. Her wheelchair reusing the green wheels from City is also really neat! Dottie coming back is cool, but I miss her cool hairpiece. We need to start getting elderly characters in different skin tones! I’m shocked we already have a Reddish Brown adult male with Trevor, we got our first medium nougat one last year and we don’t have a nougat one. He looks great with his coral scarf and t shirt! Joshua has four new pieces but I think he just looks like a generic Friends man. A better hairpiece or green/grey eyes would have helped. :P I’m impressed Maya has a new face and they didn’t reuse micro Andrea’s or Liz’. I think her torso might be my favourite microdoll one yet! The images and rainbow detailing of the centre apartment suggests these three are a family. A biracial gay parenting duo in a LEGO set in 2022?! We love to see it. 41707 Tree Planting Vehicle - Another charming set. I think I like everything about it. :P Friends usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to vehicles but the shaping and colours of this one are really nice, as is the message behind it. The part usage for the planter pots is spectacular and the greenhouse and pump both look good despite their low piece counts. The animal inclusions are charming and I love the characters’ outfits. I have so many Friends vehicles though, so I’m a bit apprehensive about getting this despite it being a great set!

This wave is way too small for my liking. It seems they’re going to split every theme other than City and Harry Potter up into January and March waves from now on. I guess it means some sets will get to stand out more with the less competition and those who buy everything at once will feel less bad? :P Here it feels particularly jarring as the first three are grouped together while there’s only one more not in that subline. 43198 Anna’s Courtyard - These opalescent dresses make LEGO look like they don’t understand the concept of surprise toys. XP I mean what’s the novelty of storing Anna within the bottom part of her dress? The image they show of her popping out just looks creepy. The dress’ lack of printing and transparency, even with the Opal finish, will just look off in person. I think what they should’ve done is have her come with the regular dress piece and then have a dress hidden within the build (as a tree trunk or waterfall or something?). I’m also curious why they didn’t do Queen Anna since it would have only required a new torso. Anywho, the set itself looks nice. I don’t think kids will have much fun with just the facade but at least it’s sizeable enough for €10. It’s such a shame Bruni is exclusive to this for the time being as that mould is glorious! 43199 Elsa’s Castle Courtyard - If they had to use these dress lids across the sets they could’ve been more creative in hiding them. In both small sets they’re fountains. One should’ve used it as a bowl, a footstool etc. I think this set in general looks too similar to Anna’s to stand on its own. I think it be fine if they did these for multiple princesses but the big set shows they aren’t. Even if there wasn’t that dress piece this would be an easy pass as a result of Let It Go Elsa and another Snowgie. 43203 Aurora, Merida and Tiana’s Enchanted Creations - I don’t think the designer had a clear memo. Merida’s build is clearly inspired heavily what appears on screen in Brave and could be used as a regular set (albeit small with no interior). The fact that it is also a pencil pot is hidden and as a result this is my favourite of the builds. I think the castle is actually much nicer in design than the one from 2014. Tiana’s is inspired by the imagery from Princess and the Frog rather than a specific scene. The feet, height and gold detailing on the side kind of prevents it from being played with as a normal swamp. xP I really like the overall design though (that part usage of a frog foot is genius) and unlike the first set with Tiana all the colours work really well. I don’t like how Tiana’s build gives you an item to hold while the others don’t. I do like how we’re finally getting a bracelet with Disney prints though. Especially the ones of Tiana and Naveen! Aurora’s build is literally just pink. The exterior has nothing to do with Sleeping Beauty. XP Whats weirder is it is the only one that doesn’t seem to be related to real life objects. It folds open so you can only put the smallest of things in here without making a mess every time you open it. I really like the recolour of the cake icing to be more film accurate and the stain glass windows but really really odd. Again having all the dress lids be parasols is extremely lazy and hardly inspires creativity amongst children. Why not have one be part of the target build for Merida, a flower in Tiana’s pond or part of Aurora’s cake? Oh and I forgot to mention bigger dresses means less fun to play. None of these ladies can sit down, or ride a horse, or fit in most vehicles LEGO puts out. Heck I’m sure there’s some interiors of buildings LEGO puts out that these ladies couldn’t stand in. XP Oh and this is $70?! How?! Being generous it looks like it should be $50? Aurora, Merida and Tiana - I’m sorry for going on so much above. Im just confused. :P Aurora looks like she always does, except now with metallic arms. Tiana still using medium nougat skin, Cinderella’s hair and bare arms is really frustrating. I’m beginning to think a set with her will need negative media coverage for LEGO to bother updating her to be more accurate. :S On the bright side Merida looks fantastic. Bright orange was a fantastic choice! Her torso is much better as well but it’s a shame that her elbows have lost their detail. Oh well, her head is also gorgeous. I love how she doesn’t have eyelashes and has such a confident smirk. 43208 Jasmine and Mulan’s Adventure - Rajah looks beautiful it’s great we’re finally getting him at this size. I still think they should’ve used the City mould with Friends eyes, but at least he can have a bow now. :P Khan having a new mane is very generous too. Of course Mushu and Abu would’ve have been preferred but I guess they can do that next time now these two are perfected. I’m happy to see Kriki (who was already perfect) again and Carpet who is now a print. This set doesn’t seem to have any stickers! I wish the Mulan side build was a bit more sizeable but it is very nice. I love the Agrabah Palace though! The colours are finally accurate and consistent! Again for the price of this set I wish there was a bit more depth to the interior but it’s a good starting point. The minidolls aren’t very exciting to me, as I already have the older versions of both but I do like Jasmine’s face!

Both this and Marvel seemed to be hot sellers, which most CMF series of recent haven’t. I really hope that means there’s potential for more LEGO Looney Tunes.

Jedijacpenguin has listed another set: 41713 Olivia’s Space Academy for $/€70! This is quite unlike any Friends set we’ve had before so I’m really excited to see it. Apparently it only comes out in May (another first for Friends) so we might have to wait a while.

I too am very excited about this set. I am a bit sad they won’t give Merida and Tiana their own sets but I’ll take what I can get. Hopefully the builds won’t just be generic princess like the stables set and somehow correlate to their films. Oh and good. XP I think the reason the previous Tiana/Aurora set didn’t sell well is because the builds were really meh. Aurora will probably be a reuse of the one in the cottage as I have a hard time believing they’ll put her in one of her non pink outfits when she’s supposed to sell this expensive set. I wonder if Tiana will finally get reddish brown skin now that Antonio has it. She also really needs a new hairpiece. XP I wonder if Merida will get a new hairpiece or just use the Ghostbusters library ghost’s? Oh and will her dress be dark turquoise? What animal sidekicks will be included? They’re not minifigures, they’re minidolls, not microdolls.

I was worried they’d cancel them after the Ecanto sets seemed to flop hard. I think the only thing saving them from embarrassment is they released the same month as Vidiyo which obviously did a lot worse. I’m very happy LEGO did at least try making sets of not one but two new Disney films based on original ideas. I’ve been campaigning for those for years. I can’t say they didn’t try now! XD 2 more books! Maybe they’re not done with these after all? I do find it odd this gets two and Raya got zero. XP It’s interesting instead of silhouettes they’re doing doors to fit with the film. Whats even more interesting is neither of these are themed around Mirabel. I’m very curious to see how they do the Tucan, Jaguar and how they print that animal on a hamster. XP Getting microdolls of these characters should be fun too.  The house should be a fun and colourful build. Even if this film isn't very good as a fan of Disney Animation this build is a must have! I can’t wait to see what it and especially the interior looks like. I can’t wait to see what Mirabel and her grandmother look like in minidoll form. It’s a real shame we can’t get the two sisters from the book in this set. Now we have them, Li Shang and Queen Iduna only in chibi form.