2012 Friends Discussion Thread

[Aanchir]

Some of the new moulds in this line look GOOD.

the 3933 lab set is GREAT, especially the blackboard, blue tool wheel, drawers (can always use more of those) and is that the beaker from the Collectable Figures scientist?

Can anyone tell what the trans-red red part on the microscope is? Almost looks like a 1 x 1 cone but not quite.

Looks to me like the ruby from Adventurers. No idea what she'd be doing with a ruby in this sort of lab. I hope she's not planning to give that robot a laser-- that could end badly.

[paanjang16]

I like the design and these sets make a great parts pack! So many useful pieces for MOCs!!

The only problem for me is the custom minifigure that is included in this sets. How do I integrate them into my Green Grocer or Grand Emporium? They look like weird aliens in a strange land

If TLG had gone with regular minifigures this line is an instant success for both AFOLs and girls. I will wait till the price drops and then buy the house, cafe and salon set to scavenged the parts.

Anyone notice the Wall-e in the lab set?

[Alywin]

I have to say that the Friends sets are surprisingly good in my view. The houses and shops' designs are even better than the original City themes, and they seem to have pretty much the same "system" scale as City theme that most if not all of the designs and parts can be blended with City sets.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Alywin

[vexorian]

I've changed the topic title to reflect the fact that this is not a city subtheme. Just a heads up, this might be moved out of the Town forum, too.

It should be moved. It is closer to Belvile than City and Belvile belongs to the special themes forum.

[slovakiasteph]

I also have to add that while I'm not a fan of these new people (instead of minifigs), I do prefer their faces to that of the typical female minifig. These have a cute-ish anime-type face instead of the annoying lipstick-look we get with each minifig. Also, they're not annoying like Bratz or Barbie!

[Aanchir]

I like the design and these sets make a great parts pack! So many useful pieces for MOCs!!

The only problem for me is the custom minifigure that is included in this sets. How do I integrate them into my Green Grocer or Grand Emporium? They look like weird aliens in a strange land

If TLG had gone with regular minifigures this line is an instant success for both AFOLs and girls. I will wait till the price drops and then buy the house, cafe and salon set to scavenged the parts.

Anyone notice the Wall-e in the lab set?

That robot doesn't look that much like Wall-E... not compared to the robot from Mars Mission which actually had a chest compartment. Proportions on this one are maybe closer, but I think in general it's just a generic "cute robot" look.

I like these minifigures... For my own collection, I'd be more likely to buy them if they were regular minifigures. But again, people who want regular minifigures can just as easily buy regular minifigures as they could before this theme, and contrary to what was expected next year's City sets have a somewhat generous concentration of females even than sets in some past years. Meanwhile, they're not much less compatible with today's minifigures than Exo-Force figs or "fleshies" from licensed themes. Being particularly nitpicky, I don't even use figs without the modern "eye sparkle" together with ones that predate the eye sparkle. So these figs all in all aren't anything outrageous to me in the long run.

All in all I think compatibility with regular minifigures is overrated in some respects. Not everyone has the same love affair with the minifigure that AFOLs do. A girl graduating out of Duplo might not object at all to these figs-- and a good thing too, since TLG's market research suggests many girls leaving the Duplo age range tend to stop playing with LEGO altogether. It's entirely possible that those girls could be a key component of the market this theme is meant to appeal to.

[meyerc13]

Have to join those who love the sets but hate the figures. Seriously, riding an ATV standing up? What is she, the 21st century equivalent of a horse trick rider? So the question comes down to price. If these are priced around the same as most themes (10 cents a piece), I'm in. If these are priced like Belville, I guess my daughter will have to wait for them to hit clearance.

Edited September 14, 2011 by meyerc13

[lisqr]

Just thought of a crazy idea, maybe not that crazy, the heads can fit on normal minifigs and normal minifig heads can fit on those.

I can already think of a few mocs that i'm going to try.

[Derek]

These sets look great! I love the new pieces as well as the pieces in new colors!

I probably won't buy many of these sets, but I definitely have my eye on that Cafe...

I think it's possible that these hairpieces will fit on normal figures...if you look at the male in the house set, he has the generic "tousled hair" that has been seen in every theme...And if you look in the Beauty Salon, you can see one of the new hairpieces being modeled on a white minifig head...

-Derek

Edited September 14, 2011 by Derek

[BrickBucket]

These sets look great, but I'm biased I don't like the minifigures, I wish they would have made these sets in the city line with regular minifigures and I think it still would have appealed to girls. However I think girls who never bought or had no intention of buying Lego will like this better, girls who already like Lego will probably be happy that Lego made something for them that doesn't scream PINK! like Belville, but a bit irked that the minifigs they have aren't exactly compatible with this Friends world. At least they scale is compatible and parts work in the regular Lego system sets, just throw the girls figs out if you prefer mini-figs.

It appears the walls for the house and other sets are large junioriized panels or just larger sized bricks judging by the lack of seams. Still there are a lot more parts and it looks like the building is more on accessory and decoration vs. building structure.

[Modulex Guy]

...I do not know why... But I am kinda disappointed there is not a whole lot of pink in these sets!? O___o

[BrickBucket]

I think it's possible that these hairpieces will fit on normal figures...if you look at the male in the house set, he has the generic "tousled hair" that has been seen in every theme...And if you look in the Beauty Salon, you can see one of the new hairpieces being modeled on a white minifig head...

If you look under the picture of the house set you see the icons of hair + head + torse + feet -> a friend minifigure. So I think it's fair to say the hair, head, torso and feet will be interchangeable. I was wrong in my previous thinking that these weren't modifiable. The only thing that sucks is the hands don't articulate nor do the legs move independently from each other

EDIT Bonaparte: Links removed on request of LEGO.

Edited September 16, 2011 by Bonaparte

[Mrlegoninja]

These look OK. But the fact that (1. I'm a man) and (2. Most of my money will probably be gone ), I think I'll pass these sets.

[weasel47]

These look OK. But the fact that (1. I'm a man) and (2. Most of my money will probably be gone ), I think I'll pass these sets.

What's wrong with being a man?

[lightningtiger]

These look OK. But the fact that (1. I'm a man) and (2. Most of my money will probably be gone ), I think I'll pass these sets.

So either do one of two things, give the dolls to a little girl or second, buy the accessories from BL when available.

[vexorian]

I have serious doubts if my retailers will bring these. Cause I don't think they ever brought Belvile or Paradisa.

[meyerc13]

Here's something to ponder... here in the US it seems like Toys R Us carries LEGO in a separate section away from boys toys and girls toys. However, Target and Wal Mart seem to put LEGO in the boys section. If major retailers pick up this line, do you think the LEGO aisle will move to the area between boys and girls toys? Or do we end up with two LEGO sections?

Both my son and daughter are into Squinkies, and they have two sections of them - one for boys and one for girls. For my son's birthday, one of the moms knew he liked them but picked up a girlish set, she had no idea there was a second Squinkies section in with the boys toys. So it will be interesting to see how Target and Wal Mart decide to handle these if they pick up this line.

[Aanchir]

These sets look great! I love the new pieces as well as the pieces in new colors!

I probably won't buy many of these sets, but I definitely have my eye on that Cafe...

I think it's possible that these hairpieces will fit on normal figures...if you look at the male in the house set, he has the generic "tousled hair" that has been seen in every theme...And if you look in the Beauty Salon, you can see one of the new hairpieces being modeled on a white minifig head...

-Derek

We've actually been pretty certain of this since a while back, when someone snuck some keychains from this theme from a Chinese factory, and one of them had the same hair as the collectible minifigures S2 Pop Star, only in Cool Yellow (Bricklink's Bright Light Yellow).

The only thing some people are unsure about with the hairpieces is whether all of the new ones for this theme will fit OK on regular minifigures. On the heads, they should fit just fine, but some people are worried that classic minifigures' comparatively short necks will make the shoulders collide with some of the new hair pieces.

If you look under the picture of the house set you see the icons of hair + head + torse + feet -> a friend minifigure. So I think it's fair to say the hair, head, torso and feet will be interchangeable. I was wrong in my previous thinking that these weren't modifiable. The only thing that sucks is the hands don't articulate nor do the legs move independently from each other

Well, the figs in this theme are intercompatible with one another. And they have just as many components as classic minifigures, if you count all pre-assembled parts from a classic minifigure as single pieces. Sadly, though, the figs do not seem to have any parts other than the hair that are intercompatible with regular minifigures.

This doesn't bother me as a buyer (I don't know if I'd buy any sets from this theme even if it used traditional figs), but it means that if TLG extends the Disney Princess franchise to System the way they did with Cars, and they choose to use this style of figure for that theme, then they won't be able to use the excellent already-existing mermaid and octopus minifig legs pieces for sets based on The Little Mermaid. It's a silly thing to be worried about, certainly, but I like thinking ahead.

[UsernameMDM]

Showed my daughters (soon to be 5 & 3) the prelim pics, and they both asked, "Are those Polly Pockets or Legos?"

I said, "Yes."

They said they wanted them all.

[Zeya]

I have to say, having seen a "preview" of Dino, City (forest), Ninjago, and Friends... Friends looks like the most intriguing.

Putting on my "toy designer" hat, it seems to be well designed with engaging structure builds, accessories, and color design. Aside from the figures, I see all kinds of new colors and new molds (or at least new to me). I think this theme has a bigger chance of success than past Lego "girlie" offerings. It looks like the builds are a step up from what Belville had - the houses look bigger and more detailed. There seems to be less pandering here, not shooting for the lowest common denominator and giving the Lego building aspect the short shrift. Nice design work here.

On a slight downside, it looks like there is going to be quite a bit of dreaded sticker sheet action. And I'm not convinced that regular minfig parts will fit on these new figures. It looks like the hands are the same diameter as a minifig, but the heads look bigger to me. I guess we'll see.

[Arigomi]

Overall, these sets have much more potential than Belville sets. There is more focus on building this time around instead of shortcuts with <insert that tiresome argument> parts.

[Hinckley]

These look OK. But the fact that (1. I'm a man) and (2. Most of my money will probably be gone ), I think I'll pass these sets.

That's hilarious coming from a man with a female avatar. So, you don't like what? about these female sets? Unique colors and pieces? Cool new molds like cupcakes? Lots of windows? Lot of price points to affordably get new pieces and colors? I'm a man and I'll be getting quite a few of these. I like them a lot.

[roamingstop]

Some really great designs; builds and bits to kit out modular houses which generally both sexes like. And much more in keeping than Belville... pity the bank balance will have a deficit again.

[lightningtiger]

Overall, these sets have much more potential than Belville sets. There is more focus on building this time around instead of shortcuts with <insert that tiresome argument> parts.

I agree with the statement of more potential than Belville, at least from a city point of view - the buildings and accessories will fit anyone's city or town !

Here's an idea, Friends are in one country and Minifig's live in another and they go on holiday in each others country.....the ideas from that is so great.

[badboytje88]

That's hilarious coming from a man with a female avatar.

I admit I had to chuckle about that one too when I read it. I personally will be getting some of the sets for the cute animals and all the accessories. Plus I happen to think that some of the sets are very well designed and would get along with any town/city display.