LEGO Friends line

[Quickblade22]

Awesome review. I'm excited to get the hair pieces and think the new flower pieces look cool.

[DARKspawn]

I'm a little disappointed that LEGO sees the need to invent a whole new line rather than expanding the existing Town theme, which already has heaps of sub-themes as it is. My 7 year old daughter loves the Town theme, it would have been great to see something more along the line of Paradisa (did I get that right?). However I have no great moral objection to this new theme either. I don't think LEGO defines social behaviour so much as it is defined by it.

As stated before it will bring us many unique elements, and this can only be a good thing.

[Kosh]

Did they spend a lot of money on developing Friends? yes. But it's no less than what they'll spend on LOTR, or have spent on Harry potter, PotC or Star Wars.... I'm sure there is some risk, but from what I've seen it's not a big one. Why? despite having the new 'Friends 'fig' they took the time and spent the money to 'Do it Right'. Other than the 'Friends 'fig' the rest of it works at Minifigure scale well enough and it adds some nice interesting colors in pieces that seem to have AFOL's ready to buy copies of the sets. Hey, 'Parts are Parts' that's the beauty of LEGO after all...
The risk in my view is that it will may not meet internal expections/goals, from what I have seen of the designs it should do well enough against it's apparent competition, Polly Pockets and the like. At some point I'll be adding some of these sets to my collection, the 'Friends 'figs' will be sorted out away from the parts I'll actually use...

[RichardAM]

I got my first set earlier in the week and I thought it was okay for the parts, my girlfriend, a non-legoer was interested in them too.

As a whole the theme is no worse than the Ninjago crap- I don't know why there is all the 'offended' AFOLs out there. Get a grip, the theme's fun, deal with it.

[Kev]

I am thoroughly amused by the Friends line. Yep. I definitely am.


Oh! And I played dress up, too.


[EDIT] I might as well link to the review I did. So there you go.

Ha! Well done!

[Tedward]

The problem is the millions of dollars the company has invested in this. It has to be one of the biggest risks they've taken in a very long time, and personally - though I hope I'm wrong - I think Friends is going to flop. Heavily.

Two points here as I see it: development $$ and the success or failure of the theme.

On the development side, as has been pointed out, every time LEGO develops a new theme there are development costs and a heavier cost on the marketing side to introduce the line. There is no evidence however that such costs in this case are unreasonable, unwarranted or a threat to the company's bottom line. The changes they have made over the last several years has resulted in a much tighter fiscal ship so while it may be a risk, so was Ninjago. And since they do need to develop new lines all the time in addition to the "evergreen" lines there is no way to eliminate development costs.

As for the success or failure, I think they may finally have found a winner in a girl-oriented line. I don't like the mini-dolls, and neither does my ten-year-old daughter. That said, when we got the latest catalog last week she made her usually "wish list" and it included three sets from the new Forest Police and City series and almost every single Friends set available (I was very pleased that the Beauty Shop did NOT make the cut I have to say).

They have made a series that will appeal to girls and is much more compatible with existing lines. They have designed sets that do NOT use crazy amounts of juniorized parts and added accessories that can be used by minifigs not just the mini-dolls. And on the marketing front they have had more media exposure for the line than Belleville or Paradisa ever had thanks, in part, to over-zealous uber-feminists combined with social media. Frankly, I don't see how this line can be considerd anything other than a promising, if not already successful, theme.

[wobnam]

You are right Tedward, it's about cost on one side and how well it will do financially on the other.

I haven't seen any numbers, so I could very well be wrong, but with the extensive studies and the massive marketing campaign I think those costs for Friends are higher than for other lines, and thus the company has more riding on this one. Of course, if Friends is a success it could be a huge one, so I'm not saying they shouldn't take that risk.

...but will it be a success? Because it is targeted at girls, there are many more unknowns here than with "regular" lines. What we do know is that the previous girls' lines didn't do very well. That's not in Friends' favor.

when we got the latest catalog last week she made her usually "wish list" and it included three sets from the new Forest Police and City series and almost every single Friends set available

If your daughter made a Lego wish list that included Forest Police and City, she's probably not a typical representative of the demographic that they want to reach with Friends. In my four years of working with Lego in a store, I've observed and talked to customers as well as industry professionals about the girl-lego relationship, and my general impression is that the barrier between girls and the lego toy concept is a great one. If Friends can break it down, then great.. But I doubt it.

despite having the new 'Friends 'fig' they took the time and spent the money to 'Do it Right'. Other than the 'Friends 'fig' the rest of it works at Minifigure scale well enough and it adds some nice interesting colors in pieces that seem to have AFOL's ready to buy copies of the sets.

They have designed sets that do NOT use crazy amounts of juniorized parts and added accessories that can be used by minifigs not just the mini-dolls.

Yes, the Friends sets are compatible and has interesting colors and pieces - I see arguments like these everywhere, and for AFOL interest in the products, they are certainly relevant - but why are compatability and new colors good things when we are talking about appealing to girls who have little or no interest in lego in the first place? AFOLs are far from enough to secure the commercial success of a line (Heck, most AFOLs I know never buy sets at MSRP): The main group they need to reach with Friends are the ones who are currently playing with dolls and various pinkfigs, and most of them won't care if Olivia's hair will fit Kai and Zane or not.

Now, I realize this sounds negative, so for the record: I don't want Friends to fail, I'm not sure Friends will fail, I just think it very well might fail. There are still some variables missing though, like the marketing strategy. But they need a good one.

[Tedward]

why are compatability and new colors good things when we are talking about appealing to girls who have little or no interest in lego in the first place?

Compatibility comes down to recruitment and expansion and colour palette, well that should be obvious.

What seems to be clear is that the Friends theme is aimed at a market segment that is currently not generally playing with LEGO. It has been described using terms like "gateway" (as in gateway drug). Compatibility becomes important when the second stage is reached and the new consumers want to expand the world in which their friends play and also in expanding the appeal of the sets to other market segments. After getting "hooked" with Friends sets perhaps the new-to-LEGO consumer will want to add a bit of outdoor adventure by asking gramma and grandpa for a Forest Police Set so the friends can go to a cabin. Maybe the Friends will want to visit a harbour or fly out of an airport. If the accessories and environments are incompatible then the divide is less likely to be crossed.

My little girl is actually a good example of why the line should be a success. She may already be a fan and not interested in the mini-dolls but she is interested in the sets. Thus they have made the line appealing to girls her age whether they like the mini-dolls or not. A certain percentage will buy the sets for the mini-dolls and a certain percentage couldn't care less. By making sure the line appeals to both segments they guarantee more sales.

The new colours are a good thing in that they have clearly worked for the targeted demographic for years. The "Barbie" aisle at the local TRU is not pink and purple because they had surplus ink and paint in that palette. Theses colours are more attractive to girls than the existing LEGO palette. There may be some over-emphasis on the positive aspects of the new palette amongst AFOLs only because many feared it would be all pink and purple with, again, juniorized parts.

I see it as important that this new line appeals to the new target and is reasonably attractive to at least some of the existing LEGO community. Previous lines aimed at girls have not found that "sweet spot" but I think they may have scored a bulls-eye with this one.

[wobnam]

Tedward, I agree that System compatibility will be a key issue IF Friends is successful; my critizism was directed at compatibility being used as an argument for Friends becoming a successful line in the first place.

The same goes for colors; new colors for the sake of new colors is a fan thing. Obviously, as you point out, a toy targeted at girls will need a certain palette in the current commercial landscape, and perhaps more variations of these colors will help - though I don't feel that the colors is where Belville failed, do you?

My little girl is actually a good example of why the line should be a success. She may already be a fan and not interested in the mini-dolls but she is interested in the sets. Thus they have made the line appealing to girls her age whether they like the mini-dolls or not.

The way I see it what we can gather from your example is that they have made the line appealing to girls her age who are already lego fans. Which is a good thing, but says nothing about whether the sets will appeal to girls who aren't already into lego. The dolls are very important to get these girls interested, and I can't help but think that the fact that your daughter doesn't like them, if anything, is a bad sign for Friends.

[RichardAM]

LEGO Group commentary on attracting more girls to construction play

We want to correct any misinterpretation that LEGO Friends is our only offering for girls. This is by no means the case. We know that many girls love to build and play with the wide variety of LEGO products already available. LEGO Friends joins this global collection of products as yet another theme option from which parents may choose the best building experience for their child’s skill and interest.

Basically. All the fans butthurt about the launch and release of the Friends theme just need to grow up.

[medib]

Personally, We (the wife and I) love the new line, but aren't all that thrilled about the decision lego made to make the figures like the polly pocket figures.

I do have a good place for Stephanie though. The wife picked up "Stephanie's outdoor barbeque" set and today I put Stephanie in the bone cage from
the skeleton tower.

[Memsochet]

I've bought three of these sets. 1 for my 7 year old niece, and 2 for a couple of adult female friends for their birthday. Everybody loved them, even those who didn't get them.

[plums_deify]

[AK_Brickster]

This is hilarious!

"Lego Friends - Not just for 5-10 year old girls"

[Kev]