This year marks the 10th anniversary of the LEGO® Friends theme, making it a perfect time to take a look back at how the theme went from concept to toy shelves. The LEGO Group had dabbled in ‘girl’ themes before with products such as Belville and Scala, but the brand had a greater connection to boys. So LEGO Friends was introduced to capture the interest of girls, who at the time were not engaging with LEGO construction in the same way boys were. After extensive market testing, the LEGO Friends theme was born in 2012, along with its five main characters. Although Friends sets use the System bricks at its core, those main characters were something totally new. Opting instead for Mini-doll. But as these concept images show, things could have been very different, with Minifigures considered along with some truly nightmarish creations.
With the concept of the Mini-doll in place, it paved the way for how accessories and creatures were also styled. The LEGO Friends sets feature many different animals and they all match the style of the Mini-dolls. Here are a few test elements, which show how little tweaks shape the animals you can find in the Friends sets.
The five main characters from the LEGO Friends themes have remained a core aspect of the sets, but they have changed a little over the years. One even changed their skin tone, this was to make the girls more diverse and inclusive. As you can see from the Rambling Bricks image below, the changes are minimal but even the original line-up changed very little from the concepts.
Not everyone is a fan of the Mini-doll, but it has since been used in other themes including DC Super Hero Girls, Elves and even Disney Princess. Despite the leaning towards female builders, LEGO Friends is enjoyed by boys as well and in recent years, more male characters have been introduced into sets. To mark the 10th Anniversary, a special set has been released, along with 7 others.
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