For collectors of the young girl-oriented LEGO Friends series that have seen our major 2018 set image reveal recently, some may have observed a few changes to the minidolls accompanying the sets in question. These minidolls, larger and more detailed than the standard LEGO minifigures, and depicting unique LEGO-original characters, have been noted by analytical eyes to be a bit… off from the usual depiction of the main LEGO Friends characters: Andrea, Emma, Mia, Olivia and Stephanie of Heartlake City.
Then:
Now: (look at the girls on the upper-right of the box)
As it turns out, the altered looks for Andrea and her close circle was an intentional move on the part of the main LEGO Friends design team all the way from LEGO HQ in Billund, Denmark. They even released an official statement to give a detailed explanation for the changes.
LEGO officially released a statement regarding the new looks of the LEGO Friends characters, as reported by The Brick Fan. The changed appearances are LEGO’s take on the evolution of the Friends line, its associated characters, and even the play sets that represent the world they live in. While their personalities are the same, the passing of time has evolved the way they looked.
And it’s not like they came up with the alterations on their own; LEGO also took into consideration KFOLs (or Kid Fan of LEGO) of the LEGO Friends theme for their ideas and feedback. This is all to make the Friends universe a bit more like the real world that the children who play with the sets live in.
Truth be told, this design philosophy isn’t unique to LEGO Friends. Other LEGO themes have taken that idea to heart as well. LEGO City Pickup and Caravan (60182) set, for example, has a 3-minifigure family included: mom, dad and son. Word from LEGO is that they are the same family from a seasonal LEGO City Christmas set, where the boy was still a baby. That’s kind of cool if you’ll ask me.