Maya (2013)

Although many casual observers may see her as just another secondary girl character, Maya was actually quite special when she joined Mia and Andrew on the big yacht in 2013!





41015 Dolphin Cruiser

So what is it that makes her special?

Unlike Marie, Katharina, Nicole, and several other girl characters that I have talked about, Maya did not borrow one of the main five girls' face prints. She got her own face design with dark brown eyes and a closed mouth.

You can see how much darker her eyes are compared to Olivia's light brown eyes.


When Maya was first introduced, her cherry blossom top was exclusive to her, and since she has straight black hair and dark brown eyes, I thought she might be an Asian girl, or more specifically a Japanese girl, as the cherry blossom is a quintessential Japanese flower.

But the trend of random clothes sharing started among the Friends mini-dolls in 2014, and Emma, Olivia and Naya wore her top also. Now it's become just another cute flowery shirt everyone wears.

As for Maya's ethnicity, we don't know exactly what she really is. The beauty about her is that she can be anybody with dark brown eyes and black hair; she can be Italian, Jewish, Japanese or Latin American, if that's what you want her to be.  But more likely, she is just anyone with no specific ethnicity or nationality assigned. That way, more girls will be happy that the mini-doll that looks just like themselves also lives in Heartlake City.

Since there is a much larger population with black hair and dark brown eyes than that with blonde hair and blue eyes, it was probably a good idea to welcome a character like Maya. Her special face print would later be used also on Emma's mother Charlotte and the camp leader Joy.