LEGO launches new 'Friends' range with characters that have anxiety and missing limbs

Toy company LEGO has unveiled a new range of characters with physical and mental disabilities such as anxiety and missing limbs. 

The range, which is called 'Friends', has a diverse cast of characters that are attempting to take on the challenges of today's modern world, according to media reports. 

The characters include Autumn, an adventurous spirit born without the lower part of her arm. Paisley, a talented musician who is "shy in everyday life", Nova, who's “bluntness can put people off” and more, according to its website. The new characters are currently available in Singapore and at certified retailers.

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The characters have also taken up a variety of modern talents and creative pursuits such as Leo having a studio in his bedroom to film for his baking channel and Olly being an expert in video making. 

The new 'Friends' characters come shortly after LEGO first announced that it would be changing up the Friends universe in October 2022 to be more diverse to "enable more children to feel represented during play," according to a release. 

"The brand-new universe of authentic, interesting, passionate, and diverse characters includes additions of multiple skin tones, cultures, physical and non-visible disabilities, and neurodiversity. The new sets and series will feature characters with limb difference, Downs Syndrome, anxiety, vitiligo, and a dog with a wheelchair," said Lego.

It added that its extensive studies showed that three out of four children feel that there aren't enough toys that represent them which is what prompted the launch. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out for a comment.

Aside from its new cast of diverse 'Friends' characters, LEGO also recently launched a new set with South Korean K-pop group BTS. 

The LEGO Ideas BTS Dynamite is said to be a tribute to the global pop icons, BTS, and is designed by LEGO fans. The set features the seven-piece band on the video set of their global smash-hit single “Dynamite”. With the figurines, the new set also has a vibrant donut shop, ice cream truck and record store. 

When the song was released in August 2020, it reached over 100 million views in less than one day and one billion views in just eight months. It even gave the band their first number-one single in the United States.

According to the fans behind the creation of the new set, the set was created after watching the BTS music video Dynamite repeatedly to capture its essence using LEGO blocks. “It was insane when the project went viral online overnight,” they said.

Federico Begher, head of LEGO product group, shared, “When we saw the colorful design, we knew it would be a hit, and this was proved by how quickly they reached 10,000 views in the LEGO Ideas voting.”

He added that BTS fans have already gotten behind the design and so it was important that LEGO remained faithful to the original creation. The LEGO Ideas BTS Dynamite set is on sale from early March 2023.

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