LEGO will relaunch Friends in 2023 with new characters, colors and packaging

The LEGO Group is relaunching the Friends theme in 2023 with brand new characters, colors and packaging to 'celebrate diverse friendships in the modern world'.

VIEW ALL NEW LEGO FRIENDS SETS >>>

The current line-up of characters – including Emma, ​​Olivia and the gang – will be represented as adults in the new sets and tie-in content, including the LEGO Friends TV show, while a new generation of mini-dolls will take center stage. center from January 2023. The new cast is the result of extensive research, testing with children and letters received by the LEGO Group, all of which pointed to children's desire to see better representation of LEGO Friends.

As a result, the new characters, settings and storylines embrace a more diverse mix of skin tones, physical and invisible disabilities and neurodiversity. According to a press release from the LEGO Group, the new sets will feature characters with limb differences, anxiety, vitiligo, Down syndrome and more, while the stories in broader content will better reflect modern friendships.

LEGO Friends 2023 minidoll names

“At the LEGO Group, we understand that children want the characters they encounter to be more like the diverse personalities they meet in real life,” said LEGO Friends Head of Product Tracie Chiarella. “We are continuously developing our products so that they reflect today's society and that is why we are proud to launch this brand new generation of LEGO Friends.

“We want children to see the new LEGO Friends Universe, both in the physical product and in the content we launch in 2023, as a reflection of their own friendships and to see the characters as authentic. We chose to develop the LEGO Friends Universe and TV show to be more inclusive to give parents and children more tools to navigate friendship and their emotions as they grow and learn.

The eight new main characters include five girls and three boys, and the LEGO Group has created incredibly detailed backstories for each of them. Their personalities will apparently be communicated through details in certain sets as much as broader Friends Universe content like the LEGO Friends TV show, but their bios will also likely be accessible online at LEGO.com.

The LEGO Group's Play Well Study 2022 has also contributed to the relaunch of Friends, with key findings finding that almost 75% of children feel there are not enough toys that represent them, while eight in ten children want more characters want those that look like them.

The TV show's new storylines, meanwhile, have been developed in collaboration with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, to ensure the characters' journeys are "relatable, inclusive and reflective of the difficulties and experiences children face today." face, including the ups and downs of friendships'. A LEGO Friends TV special will air in February 2023, kicking off the new series.

Click here to take a closer look at the first wave of LEGO Friends sets announced for 2023. These products leave behind the typical pink-dominated packaging (and unusually shaped boxes) and adopt a color scheme led by teal and purple.

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