2012 Friends Discussion Thread

[The Cobra]

Does anyone know if Friends might be introduced to European stores any time soon?

The Italian catalog lists the sets to be released in March; though Amazon.it has been listing the set since early January, the will be shipping them starting March too.

I dig that blue bike too; I'm not happy with the rest of the set (up to now), but any bike colour other then red is welcome. Plus, that blue is just great.

As for the names: I didn't read all of the previous posts, so someone might have already pointed this out, here in Italy, Andrea is a male name.

[Lordofdragonss]

The Italian catalog lists the sets to be released in March; though Amazon.it has been listing the set since early January, the will be shipping them starting March too.

In Poland we gets Friends in April. This waiting is killing me...

[iElkie]

Pictures of the second wave of Friends sets as well as the Advent Calendar: http://www.toyark.com/news/toy-fair-59/toy-fair-2012-lego-friends-images-5375/

[Jargo]

Ooh blue bike, blue skis and poles, blue surf board, red bucket, red kitchen utensils, pink luggage trolley. Thuper!

[Tamamono]

Ooh, thanks, iElkie! I'm not really digging those riding club sets, but the advent calendar is adorable! Skis in aqua blue(?), new torsos for the Friends, and lots of yummy little details! I never spring for the advent calendars normally, but I think I might just have to make an exception for this one!

And I think I see a red spatula/kitchenware set in 3184.

[Redhead1982]

Thanks for all the info, I was hoping to get some of the Friends' sets sooner.

As for the new wave, Mia's bedroom looks nice, Adventure Camper looks nice mostly for some specific pieces (the blue bike, the blue surf, and red kitchen utensils), whereas the colour combination is not so appropriate for the camper. I might get these two, but for sure not the others.

[Dreamweb]

This is my first post regarding the Friends line, but better late than never.

I must admit I dig those minidolls, they're a hundred times better than Belville figs. And what's even better, they're minifig scale and with some imagination can be mixed with traditional minifigs, as some reviewers have presented.

I don't have any of them yet, but I've already ordered Stephanie’s Outdoor Bakery and Olivia’s Inventor’s Workshop and I'm waiting for them now, eager to be able to experience this new line first hand. So perhaps this line is not so sexist after all, as it managed to get me - a 30-year old male - interested. Although I must admit, I mainly got it for the cool parts, not for the sets themselves.

As for the minidoll characters' age issue, which has been discussed earlier in this thread, I think they're at least 16 and in fact may be in their early twenties. They design fashion, do other adult stuff, and drive cars! The age from which you can drive differs from country to country, I think it's currently 16 where I live. Granted, some of them may live with their parents, but hey, I lived with my parents until I was 28, and some people live with their parents for their whole lives, even after getting married - the wife/husband just moves in. I look at it this way - in Belville we had kids that were about 10 - 12, and we had grown up dolls that were at least 30 (they were the parents after all). The girl characters in Friends are somewhere in between.

[Piranha]

That new bike color is awesome.

So many new parts I have to add to my shopping list.

[lorax]

As soon as I saw the Wonder Woman hair, I knew what we needed: Wonder Woman in the Friends range.

Lego Wonder Woman - Friends by tikitikitembo, on Flickr

(Ok, the paint work is dodgy, I am not very good at that type of thing, I just wanted to give it a try).

I love how the Friends figures are so brilliant to modify (well I love the Friends figures in general)

[LegoMyMamma]

As soon as I saw the Wonder Woman hair, I knew what we needed: Wonder Woman in the Friends range.

I love how the Friends figures are so brilliant to modify (well I love the Friends figures in general)

Oh, wow! When I first looked, I thought she was a DC LEGO MiniFig! Just realized that's also what I thought from the thumbnail in my contacts feed too

Great job! Honestly, this looks way more realistic to Wonder Woman. Let's face it, not every personality comes off well as a MiniFig

[lorax]

Thanks LegoMyMamma, I agree, not all characters are best as minifigs.

I am getting some better model painting supplies to paint another one (not sure which character yet though).

[Lyichir]

As soon as I saw the Wonder Woman hair, I knew what we needed: Wonder Woman in the Friends range.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7063/6874667399_88606a4d7e.jpg

Lego Wonder Woman - Friends by tikitikitembo, on Flickr

(Ok, the paint work is dodgy, I am not very good at that type of thing, I just wanted to give it a try).

I love how the Friends figures are so brilliant to modify (well I love the Friends figures in general)

That is truly epic. I love the creative reuses customizers have had for the minidolls.

Edited February 15, 2012 by Rick
Please don't quote images unnecessarily

[lightningtiger]

Now that's what we call customising 'lorax', fantastic.....not a bad paint job (better than what I could do ).

Pity you can't do the same for Catwoman ?

[lorax]

Thanks Lyichir. Some of the other customisations I have seen have had flawless paint work to support their ideas, (I still need a lot more practice).

Lightning tiger... maybe catwoman coult be the next one. *runs off to check if catwoman headgear fits*

[Venunder]

I have always thought that Lego needed some more pink and pastel blue and yellow colour bricks.

These Friends city sets are going to add more "realism" to the city dioramas of many people.

I have the vet centre and the park cafe, along with a few of the smaller sets.

The only improvement i would like would be the inclusion of roof sections for the buildings.....

The figures are a little bit too large when compared to the regular minifigures but I think they will add to the diversity of "human figures" from lego. Maybe in the future more figures will be introduced with a slightly different design style?

I expected that somebody must be modifying figures. The Wonder woman Friend modification is great. I might have to do something similar.

[Dreamweb]

I like your Wonder Woman! Nice paint job. Sure it's not perfect, but it's still better than anything I would do.

[jonwil]

Do we have any pictures of (or information on) the airplane set yet?

[L@go]

I spotted the Friends sets in a Norwegian toy store for the first time yesterday - perfect timing as I went into the store looking for a present for my four-year-old niece (yeah, I know, it says five on the box...). So I bought her 8441, Emma's Design School, and needless to say she was immediately infatuated with all the details and, not least, the mini-doll. Because she's so young, I've only given her Duplo sets before, but after she'd played with her new set for a little while, my brother said: 'Of all the Lego you've brought into our house thus far, this is clearly what she's enjoyed the most'. So maybe I'll go get Andrea's Stage for her tomorrow - as she just got a baby sister called Andrea...

Edited February 26, 2012 by L@go

[Ceroknight]

Hello, I don't follow this thread but this might be of some interest to others:

It's a giveaway with a purchase of $25 or more on a Friends set in TRU Canada.

[EM4CZ]

original link http://www.fbtb.net/2012/01/04/studs-comic-1/

Edited February 29, 2012 by EM4CZ

[Vindicare]

EM4CZ, that's a funny comic. and so true!

[Oky]

As soon as I saw the Wonder Woman hair, I knew what we needed: Wonder Woman in the Friends range.

Lego Wonder Woman - Friends by tikitikitembo, on Flickr

Wow, that looks great! Nice job! But if I may be a bit nitpicky, she should have blue eyes.

I am getting some better model painting supplies to paint another one (not sure which character yet though).

Do Supergirl! Stephanie is perfect for the role! Catwoman and Poison Ivy would be interesting to see as minidolls too.

I think this needs its own thread in the MCW forum.

[EM4CZ]

All minifigs are grown men and women with many professions, but Friends look like teenagers, according to European regulations is minimum age 18 years for driving licenses, so how old are minidolls?

[Tontus]

That Wonder Woman is pretty good. I'd recommend printing decals for small details like the stars and some tape can help with shaky hand syndrome for straight lines. Another tip is using a hobby knife to gently scrape paint away to straighten lines. Those were techniques I used to use customizing action figures, but they should work just fine on mini dolls.

Another tip - don't try cutting the crotch area to give them independant moving legs. I tried and it doesn't work like I thought it would.

As for what to do next, do you have any interest in Disney or the Wizard of Oz? I would absolutely love to see those 2 themes in mini doll form.

[Laura Beinbrech]

I don't know how many here have seen these, but Mark Stafford (a.k.a. Lego Nabii, the twisted genius behind some famous Cthullhu MOCs floating around the net) has made an awesome Friends-based attack sub called the Dolphinex and a pink battle mech called the Ultra Violet... I don't know about you guys, but I definitely want to get me a pink battle mech.