TLG really messed it up with the Friends line, one dad several women. I would imagine if this line is successful, they might address the lopsided feminine aspect in new releases, but I’ve been monitoring stores in a city near me, and it seems even discounting the sets doesn’t get them moving, which means the line could turn out to be a total flop which gets totally discontinued before it gets addressed. 😀
Gah, I think Sophie’s face is even worse than Olivia’s! The way it’s molded just makes it seem so unsettling, and the features just don’t feel right at all (I’m assuming all the faces are molded this way and it’s just the lighting that’s just exposing the way it looks)
I think it’s the hair, as BrickLink inventory for the minifigs show that they all use the same basic head type with different facial patterns. There are two dark flesh minifigs, the rest are all light flesh. The hair pieces are most likely creating shadowing around the sides of the head where it fans out past the minifig head, which would make them rather difficult to photograph properly.
Wait, if there’s only one guy perhaps Whiskey would want to contest what he interrupted Sophie saying in panel 3 last comic. It’s not like someone can make an educat— ooooh right these are the “Friends”, the totally uneducated and ditzy girls that stereotype girls by being bricked-up barbies.
I really don’t get the Friends hate. Belleville was a line based on stereotypes about girls. (I.e. no building) The Paridisia was actual LEGO, but, if I remember correctly, the only colors in that line were pink and white and it only focused on food and leisure activities.
Friends may not be perfect in your eyes, but you’ve got to admit that it’s way better than anything LEGO’s done before.
I agree with you that Friends is no more offensive than Belville or Paridisia. My problem with the line is that LEGO didn’t abandon these stereotypes, they just rebranded things and created new minis. They might as well have kept Belville going.
Friends was touted by LEGO as something new and exciting, not just more stereotypes. They missed their goal by a wide margin, and that’s why I hate.
They took 2 steps back and 1 forwards with Friends. They didn’t even have the minifig hands designed so they could rotate like normal minifigs. In other words, it would have been better of them to include standard minifigs in the set, as there are many more minifig choices that could have been used. The color theme is also a bit outlandish, I would’ve much preferred the pink/white theme of Paradisa, the older color palettes work far better than this modern-day garish themed Friends line.
Hmm, not sure how you can say “they missed their goal by a wide margin” when the sets are getting thousands of girls who didn’t play with LEGO before their release to now build. There have been loads of adult females coming out of their “dark ages” to build again 🙂
Perhaps you are too close to the hobby as ‘you’ see it; daily TLG news, your LEGO friends, BL, your comic, brick cons … when the whole time, Friends is meant to bring in *new* fans.
Personally, I can’t wait for the Summer wave of sets!
I hope you’re right – if more girls are finding this hobby due to Friends then TLG is indeed achieving their goals. From the parents and people I’ve talked to in the toy aisles, though, I haven’t found any of these new converts.
I’m looking forward to the summer sets, too – and the waves beyond them. I hope TLG expands the line to include less-gender-biased occupations for the Friends. The potential is here to please both the new fans and old curmudgeons like me. 🙂
Every time I go near the Friends sets in stores there are girls. The TRU Friends Launch n’ Build event was very busy (even on a horrible weather day; my family was in shock I left the house it was so bad 😉 and before & after the Lemonade Stand build, parents & daughters were buying up the sets. Even the Cafe was sold out (Feb 4) and workers offering to order for them. None of the parents had heard of any controversy — they just knew their daughters had finally shown an interest in LEGO. They were thrilled by that, knowing the benefits.
So, now that Friends is here to stay, TLG can go ahead with more sets. Of course they couldn’t launch the theme’s initial wave with every single set needed for a proper “City” in some people’s minds. Hospitals, police stations, schools, libraries & comic book stores will have to be built by fans for now 🙂
Just so ya know, I enjoy your comic, which is why I’m here. Been a fan for years!
I’m glad to hear your experiences – hopefully I’m just in a pocket of naysayers and the wider impact of Friends has been more positive. (Has LEGO released any sales numbers?)
Anyway, your well spoken arguments have won me over to a “wait and see” viewpoint on Friends in general. I’ll try and hold my “why can’t everything be perfect right away” gripes in reserve. 🙂
In reply to your last comment/question (there wasn’t a hyper ‘reply’ to click, so I don’t know where this will end up in the convo) just today, April 26th, I noticed Friends Olivia’s House and Butterfly Beauty Shop are both *sold out* on LEGO(dot)com! Wow — that’s less than 4 months after launching! What does that say? 😉
The cynic in me says “that they made fewer of those sets than they did of any of the Ninjago ones.” I wonder why they haven’t gone “back to press” on them…hopefully the sold out is just a temporary shortage.
No way. Paradisa from what i’m seeing is miles better then Friends. Yes there’s pink in paradisa but at least it doesn’t look like a big pink monster vomited all over the sets. Plus Paradisa has minifigures which are WAY more valuable then ladyfigs
“More crap than it takes to fill a hat” xD
That is the best line.
either
a: everyone in Heartlake city has the same parents
b: Olivia’s dad has been very busy…
Disturbing as they may or may not be, combinations of above facts might also be true.
I meant “above statements”.
TLG really messed it up with the Friends line, one dad several women. I would imagine if this line is successful, they might address the lopsided feminine aspect in new releases, but I’ve been monitoring stores in a city near me, and it seems even discounting the sets doesn’t get them moving, which means the line could turn out to be a total flop which gets totally discontinued before it gets addressed. 😀
Maybe parents are just worried about buying pink LEGO’s with 1 man with 15 girls for their kids…
It’s like that thing with Ken all over again. Not sure if “Lucky Bastard” or “Poor Sod” would be the correct thing to say.
Gah, I think Sophie’s face is even worse than Olivia’s! The way it’s molded just makes it seem so unsettling, and the features just don’t feel right at all (I’m assuming all the faces are molded this way and it’s just the lighting that’s just exposing the way it looks)
Also, is her hat floating a bit or something?
I think it’s the hair, as BrickLink inventory for the minifigs show that they all use the same basic head type with different facial patterns. There are two dark flesh minifigs, the rest are all light flesh. The hair pieces are most likely creating shadowing around the sides of the head where it fans out past the minifig head, which would make them rather difficult to photograph properly.
that’s not creepy at ALL….. o_O
Wait, if there’s only one guy perhaps Whiskey would want to contest what he interrupted Sophie saying in panel 3 last comic. It’s not like someone can make an educat— ooooh right these are the “Friends”, the totally uneducated and ditzy girls that stereotype girls by being bricked-up barbies.
OH GOD OH WHAT
I really don’t get the Friends hate. Belleville was a line based on stereotypes about girls. (I.e. no building) The Paridisia was actual LEGO, but, if I remember correctly, the only colors in that line were pink and white and it only focused on food and leisure activities.
Friends may not be perfect in your eyes, but you’ve got to admit that it’s way better than anything LEGO’s done before.
I agree with you that Friends is no more offensive than Belville or Paridisia. My problem with the line is that LEGO didn’t abandon these stereotypes, they just rebranded things and created new minis. They might as well have kept Belville going.
Friends was touted by LEGO as something new and exciting, not just more stereotypes. They missed their goal by a wide margin, and that’s why I hate.
They took 2 steps back and 1 forwards with Friends. They didn’t even have the minifig hands designed so they could rotate like normal minifigs. In other words, it would have been better of them to include standard minifigs in the set, as there are many more minifig choices that could have been used. The color theme is also a bit outlandish, I would’ve much preferred the pink/white theme of Paradisa, the older color palettes work far better than this modern-day garish themed Friends line.
Hmm, not sure how you can say “they missed their goal by a wide margin” when the sets are getting thousands of girls who didn’t play with LEGO before their release to now build. There have been loads of adult females coming out of their “dark ages” to build again 🙂
Perhaps you are too close to the hobby as ‘you’ see it; daily TLG news, your LEGO friends, BL, your comic, brick cons … when the whole time, Friends is meant to bring in *new* fans.
Personally, I can’t wait for the Summer wave of sets!
I hope you’re right – if more girls are finding this hobby due to Friends then TLG is indeed achieving their goals. From the parents and people I’ve talked to in the toy aisles, though, I haven’t found any of these new converts.
I’m looking forward to the summer sets, too – and the waves beyond them. I hope TLG expands the line to include less-gender-biased occupations for the Friends. The potential is here to please both the new fans and old curmudgeons like me. 🙂
Every time I go near the Friends sets in stores there are girls. The TRU Friends Launch n’ Build event was very busy (even on a horrible weather day; my family was in shock I left the house it was so bad 😉 and before & after the Lemonade Stand build, parents & daughters were buying up the sets. Even the Cafe was sold out (Feb 4) and workers offering to order for them. None of the parents had heard of any controversy — they just knew their daughters had finally shown an interest in LEGO. They were thrilled by that, knowing the benefits.
So, now that Friends is here to stay, TLG can go ahead with more sets. Of course they couldn’t launch the theme’s initial wave with every single set needed for a proper “City” in some people’s minds. Hospitals, police stations, schools, libraries & comic book stores will have to be built by fans for now 🙂
Just so ya know, I enjoy your comic, which is why I’m here. Been a fan for years!
I’m glad to hear your experiences – hopefully I’m just in a pocket of naysayers and the wider impact of Friends has been more positive. (Has LEGO released any sales numbers?)
Anyway, your well spoken arguments have won me over to a “wait and see” viewpoint on Friends in general. I’ll try and hold my “why can’t everything be perfect right away” gripes in reserve. 🙂
In reply to your last comment/question (there wasn’t a hyper ‘reply’ to click, so I don’t know where this will end up in the convo) just today, April 26th, I noticed Friends Olivia’s House and Butterfly Beauty Shop are both *sold out* on LEGO(dot)com! Wow — that’s less than 4 months after launching! What does that say? 😉
The cynic in me says “that they made fewer of those sets than they did of any of the Ninjago ones.” I wonder why they haven’t gone “back to press” on them…hopefully the sold out is just a temporary shortage.
No way. Paradisa from what i’m seeing is miles better then Friends. Yes there’s pink in paradisa but at least it doesn’t look like a big pink monster vomited all over the sets. Plus Paradisa has minifigures which are WAY more valuable then ladyfigs
I’m thinking that Paradisa is better because it has less pink and it has a few more male minifigs.