Big Mia & Little Mia

The third keychain pair to appear here is Big Mia and Little Mia, placed next to two regular Mia mini-dolls.



Big Mia has the original shirt design from 2012, with the paw and two butterflies in pink and purple. Little Emma was made from a newer version of the basic Mia mini-doll; see the updated look of her shirt.

Big Mia's eyes and freckles look more orange than regular Mia mini-dolls.

There's special print details added to Big Mia's pants, but only on the front side.



When the basic Mia mini-doll got the updated shirt design in 2015, design change also occurred with her legs.

The earlier version of Mia's basic legs was made entirely in the color of the pants. The skin part was then painted, which occasionally resulted in an uneven appearance.

But the current version (in which Little Mia is made) seems to be molded in two colors, giving her skin a more uniform color.

Mini-dolls with Stephanie's face design (2014)

I have previously mentioned the frequent appearance of Stephanie mini-dolls. So it's not surprising that in 2014 her face print was found on two additional Friends side characters.

But that's not all!


Stephanie's face was also used on two of the princesses from the brand new LEGO Disney Princess theme!





Liza: 41039 Sunshine Ranch
Ewa: 41040 Advent Calendar
Merida: 41051 Merida's Highland Games
Cinderella 1: 41053 Cinderella's Dream Carriage
Cinderella 2: 41055 Cinderella's Romantic Castle

I have been complaining about many of the Friends mini-dolls from 2014 being made of previously seen parts, but I actually understand there was a good reason for that.

That was the year 1 for the Disney Princess theme, and with the launch came various new parts: 4 new face prints, 3 new wigs, 1 princess dress skirt mold and 1 mermaid leg mold, not to mention all the brand new torso and leg prints... No wonder many of the Friends mini-dolls had to settle for old clothes.

When Liza came with Sunshine Ranch, I was sure she was one of the characters who would never come back, but surprisingly, she did, and more than once! When she returned in 2015, she got a new face which was Ariel's print with a big smile. In the future I will probably just feature Liza mini-dolls and talk about the details.

Another Friends character who got Stephanie's face in 2014 was Ewa. Personally, I had not seen or heard that name before, so I wondered why they had come up with a name that doesn't seem that common in English-speaking countries (unlike many other Friends character names). My guess is this mini-doll was named after Ms. Ewa Delgado, an art director or a design manager for LEGO Friends.

Ewa mini-doll got an exclusive torso design created for the advent calendar, but her legs were not new. Her wig is the overused Olivia's hairstyle in blonde.

The Disney Princess theme has brought some fascinating mini-doll part designs. The brand new floor-length skirt has a slit in the back so that princesses can be snugly seated in a carriage.

Merida mini-doll was exclusive to one set. She has Andrea's wig in a new color, more orange than Mia's auburn hair. That was the only time Andrea's hairstyle was adopted by someone else.

Cinderella's wig is a brand new design with a cute bun. It has not been used on any other characters yet. I was pleasantly surprised to find the two Cinderella mini-dolls in two different dresses!

The princesses' dresses are tastefully simple, and yet they have gorgeous details like silver or gold sparkles to make them look fancy enough.

Although I was not particularly interested in the Disney Princess franchise itself, Disney Princess mini-dolls were a great new addition. They added a classic fairy tale flavor and many new parts to my collection, which the Friends theme alone could not have provided.

Mini-dolls with Mia's & Olivia's face design (2014)

I usually present two or more mini-dolls that share the same face print, but today I will be doing something a little different.

Initially, I was going to talk about one of the few additional characters who got Mia's face print: Naya.

But as some of you may know, there's something confusing about her; she was given more than one type of face print. Of course, she is not the only one who got either temporary or permanent makeovers, but in her case it seems rather unintentional (which means someone may have made a mistake).





1) Naya: 41035 Heartlake Juice Bar
2) (no name): 850967 Jungle Accessory Set
3) Naya: LEGO Friends Character Encyclopedia

As you see in the above photo, Naya from the Juice Bar (#1) and the unnamed girl from the Jungle Accessory Set (#2) have Mia's face print with freckles. On the other hand, Naya that accompanies DK's Character Encyclopedia book (#3) has Olivia's face print with no freckles.

When you look at Naya without freckles, you may think of another character.

That's right!

Danielle from Downtown Bakery from 2013 had the exact same face and wig combination!



You can say that Naya sometimes wears makeup that hides her freckles. Of course, that can explain her different looks.

But do I really think Naya from the Encyclopedia was designed with such intention?

No.

What I think happened is this: they just made a little mistake that many fans won't probably worry about. Only a minidollologist would be irritated by this inconsistency.

Other than what's been discussed, there's not much worth mentioning about the three mini-dolls featured today. They are wearing all items that have been worn by other characters at least once.

Recycling of clothing is encouraged in real life, but it is highly frowned upon in minidollology.

Boys (2014)

2013 saw the introduction of Heartlake City boys: Andrew and Matthew. In 2014, the boy population doubled with the addition of the two new faces, Robert and Julian!

Well, actually, they are not exactly two new faces.

They are just two familiar faces with new identities.





Andrew: 41056 Heartlake City Van
Julian: 41058 Heartlake Shopping Mall
Matthew: 41036 Jungle Bridge Rescue
Robert: 41057 Heartlake Horse Show

Andrew and Robert were from the first wave of 2014 while Julian and Matthew appeared in the second wave.

The guys from the first wave were utterly disappointing to me, since I already owned the two boy mini-dolls from the previous year.

Andrew wears the same outfit from the Dolphin Cruiser, but instead of his wig, he has his blue baseball cap on. I never like it when mini-dolls are simply given minifig hats with no hair showing; it just feels like lack of effort.

The brand new character Robert is not that great, either. He is simply Matthew from 2013 with a different wig and a different name. And there's nothing special about his hairpiece; it's the same one as Peter's. Poor Robert appears to be made of readily available parts.

Somehow it feels like these two boys were added as an after-thought.

The two guys from the second wave were better treated with at least one new element. Matthew got a cool khaki shirt, and the new character Julian got a hoodie torso with long sleeves as well as the wig in Dark Orange.

By the way, I have a sneaking suspicion that when they designed Julian, they had Jacob in mind, but somehow they got his name wrong. If you have watched LEGO Friends mini-movies and webisodes, you know that Jacob is a recurring character, and he is especially close to Olivia. Webisode #17 from Season 1 is called "Two Jacobs", and the plot revolves around the fact that Julian looks exactly like Jacob. But it just seems like a lame excuse for having Julian mini-doll instead of Jacob...

An official music video featuring Friends mini-dolls

Have you seen the latest LEGO Friends music video?

This is a must-see clip for mini-doll fans even if they are not interested in LEGO Friends songs!

There have been several official LEGO Friends music videos, but this is the first one to feature mini-dolls! 

The song was briefly used in the LEGO Friends Movie "Girlz 4 Life". It's supposed to be Livi's song, and it is performed by Chloe Moore. 

By the way, there are a few things I noticed about the five mini-dolls used in the video:

1) While Andrea, Emma, Olivia and Stephanie are wearing their signature style outfits, Mia isn't. She does have her basic top on, but the pants she is wearing are in Dark Blue. I wonder if this is because the Lime color won't work well against the background grass in the same color that's frequently used in the video. Mia's outfit combination seen here has never occurred in any actual sets.

2) Andrea, Emma and Mia appear to be wearing the newer version of their tops updated for 2015, but Olivia and Stephanie seem to be wearing their original shirts from 2012. 

3) Stephanie in this video has Ariel's face with the wider smile instead of her own!

4) At around 1:27, we see Stephanie riding her scooter while thinking of Olivia, who then smiles with her mouth open (for the first time ever)! The open-mouth print has never been used with Olivia's brown eyes on any actual mini-doll before. 

If you have also noticed the same things, you might as well start calling yourself a minidollologist, too.

Mini-doll legs 3: long pants

It's been a while since I talked about the mini-doll legs. Today I will show you the long pants.

This mold first appeared as Peter's legs in 2012, and since then we have seen it used in several different designs. I have noticed that the official part names are different depending on the pant length, but it appears to me that all the designs have the exact same shape. The back side of this mold has pockets with lids.

Hip W/ Pants 1

This one has the longest pant length of all the three styles. Although it is named "Hip W/ Pants 1", its initial appearance was later than "Hip W/Pants 2".

2013




This design was exclusively used by Mia in 2013. She wore these long black pants when she did her magic tricks as well as when she worked at the bakery.

Hip W/ Pants 2


2012




Peter's blue jeans are the most popular fashion item among Heartlake City's male population, and have appeared every year. The two dads (Peter and Luis) wear them, many of the boys like to wear them, and even Mia has worn them!

2014



This pair was first introduced as part of Prince Charming's outfit in Cinderella's Romantic Castle. Nate the bell boy from the Grand Hotel borrowed it in the following year.


2015



This black pair was used in the second wave of 2015, and worn by Matthew as well as David the pilot. Matthew had previously been seen in the same blue jeans two years in a row, so this new pair was much appreciated by him and me alike.


Hip W/ Pants 3

The third style features tight pants tucked in long boots.

2012



The white riding breeches combined with the black boots have been the standard choice for many of the girls going horseback riding. This pair has appeared every year except 2013. Mia, who is known to be an expert horseback rider, will be wearing this for the first time in the second wave of 2016.

2014




These two styles were designed for the LEGO Disney Princess line. The blue one on the left belongs to Prince Eric from Little Mermaid, and the brown one on the right to Flynn Rider from Tangled (Rapunzel).

2016



Kristoff from Frozen got gray pants and black boots. The official part image is not currently available.

The second wave of 2016 LEGO Friends will also bring an additional design; the breeches in Brick Yellow and the brown boots will be found in two of the upcoming horse-themed sets as well as in the Advent Calendar. In addition, there will be three LEGO Juniors sets featuring Friends characters this year, and Stephanie appears to have legs with Sand Green pants and black boots. I'm pleasantly surprised that the smallest Juniors/Friends set comes with an exclusive riding breeches in a new color!

Please see the photo of all the mini-dolls wearing long pants featured today. The duplicate of the same mini-doll (i.e. Prince Charming) is not included.



What strikes me as interesting about these pant legs is that some of them seem molded from two colors of plastic.

As you see below, the earlier versions of the white riding breeches and blue jeans had boots or shoes that were simply painted.

But the more recent version of them do not show any signs of paint; the pants are molded in one color and the shoes are in another. The newer version definitely looks better in my opinion.



That is another one of the great details of mini-dolls that many people may not have noticed.

Andrea (2014)

There were 4 new Andrea mini-dolls in 2014. Once again, she was the one with the least appearances among the five Friends.





1) 41035 Heartlake Juice Bar
2) 41031 Andrea's Mountain Hut
3) 41038 Jungle Rescue Base
4) 30114 Andrea's Beach Lounge (promo/polybag) 

While it's a sad fact that Andrea is not featured as often as Stephanie, she does not get treated poorly or anything. She got two new tops (#2 and #3), and she even got a second pair of shorts (#3), while Mia, Olivia and Stephanie haven't even gotten their first pair!

#2's lovely blue top was given to Kate in The Adventure Guide book published by DK in 2015. #2's capri pants are also relatively uncommon; they were introduced with Joanna in 2013, and have not been used again since Andrea #2 wore them.

The top Andrea #1 is wearing may seem like a new design, but it's actually what Ella wore at the Summer Riding Camp in 2012. But Ella's looks faded compared to Andrea's. The photo below shows the two mini-dolls with the same face and torso designs, but the color variations make them look quite different from each other.

Emma (2014)

Since I recently talked about the Emma keychains, I will feature her again and show you all the Emmas that came out in 2014 besides Big Emma.

Just like Mia, Emma appeared in five different sets that year; that was two less than Olivia and Stephanie.





1) 30112 Emma's Flower Stand (promo/polybag) 
2) 41058 Heartlake Shopping Mall 
3) 41056 Heartlake News Van
4) 41028 Emma's Lifeguard Post
5) 41032 First Aid Jungle Bike

Emmas #1-#3 have torso designs that look quite familiar. They were all introduced in the previous wave, which was the second half year of 2013.

#4 and #5 appeared with the leg mold that was new to a light-skinned character. Andrea and Kate started wearing the shorts in 2013, but somehow they did not catch on among the other girls until a year later when Emma finally got this pink pair.

#4 is also wearing a cool new swim suit top. Emma worked as a life guard at the Ambersand Beach. She even has a whistle around her neck. The back side of the bikini top is quite cute.

#5 is special because of her exclusive top for the jungle rescue adventure. She has a scarf around her neck, which is strangely painted only on her front side. But that is okay, as her hair hides the back of her neck anyway.

Although she is given equal love and attention, I get an impression that she often gets a less important role in the group compared to Stephanie and Olivia. By the end of 2014, we had gotten only 15 Emmas while there were 18 Stephanies.

Interestingly, Emma started to appear on the back of Friends instruction booklets starting with the second wave of 2014. Was she chosen for that part because it was obvious that she had been somewhat neglected?



In the wave that would follow, she was to be the girl in the spotlight; she was even going to get a pretty home as well as a set of parents in early 2015!

Character-specific tops for Friends mini-dolls

When the Friends theme started in 2012, the five main girls wore only character-specific tops, as I mentioned in a few of my posts. 

But clearly that was not an economical way to make mini-dolls. The more characters can wear the same design, the easier and cheaper it is to produce them. So character-specific torso designs are no longer prevalent. That way, everyone with the same skin tone and torso type can share the clothes!

While it's certainly fun for fans to mix and match mini-doll pieces, it's greatly disappointing for me to find Stephanie in an official Friends set wearing a shirt clearly designed for Emma.



Something like that would never happen in LEGO Elves; could you imagine Azari the fire elf in an official set wearing Naida's blue outfit with the water element symbol? That would be unacceptable!

It's too bad that the signature motifs are getting overlooked or simply ignored, and sometimes it doesn't seem to matter which symbol represents which character.

But that doesn't mean they have been completely given up. In 2015, when the signature style shirts got slightly updated, two of the characters started wearing their own favorite motifs again in some of their new outfits.

Stephanie wore her stars in 41106 Pop Star Tour Bus. And Olivia turned out to be very happy with her heart motif. You can see her proudly showing off one or more hearts in the following sets: 41090 Olivia's Garden Pool (2015), 41100 Heartlake Private Jet (2015) and in 41116 Olivia's Exploration Car (2016).

Below are the close-up images of some of the character-specific tops (not all!).

Andrea: musical note

Emma: flower



Mia: dog paw



Olivia: heart



Stephanie: star

Big Emma & Little Emma

Following Big Andrea & Little Andrea, the keychain pair I'm showing you today is Big & Little Emma accompanied by two regular Emma mini-dolls.



You might have noticed that Little Emma is wearing the newer version of the shirt from 2015. This version has more flowers. Big Emma is wearing the original 2012 version. While this older version has only one big flower, the star and dot details are painted with metallic silver instead of white seen in the updated design.

Big Emma's skirt is painted with a silver sash casually tied in the front. The back side does not show this sash.



Big Emma does not have a whole in the back of her hair for hair accessories unlike Little Emma.



Another interesting difference is that while Little Emma's legs are made in the color of the skirt, Big Emma's are in the color of her skin as you can see from the colors of the bottoms of their feet.

Mia (2014)

We got five Mia mini-dolls in 2015. It's nice to see no duplicates here.





1) 41027 Mia's Lemonade Stand
2) 41039 Sunshine Ranch
3) 41036 Jungle Bridge Rescue
4) 41059 Jungle Tree Sanctuary
5) 41040 Advent Calendar

Mias #1 and #3 are each sporting a brand new shirt. I especially adore the shirt #1 is wearing; if it was sold in a human size, I might actually buy and wear it!

#3's jungle rescue shirt is exclusive to her. #4 borrowed Olivia's jungle rescue shirt, so this one is not quite as rare. In the Jungle Rescue sub-theme, each of the five girls got their own unique shirt in a different color and design. I really appreciate that.

#2 and #5 are made up of parts at least one other mini-doll has worn in 2012 and 2013, so you may recognize them.

A big disappointment was #5 from the advent calendar. She just borrowed the blue scarf and the purple cardigan Stephanie wore in the previous advent calendar. The legs are even more boring, wearing the pants Peter first wore back in 2012. Come on, give this girl something better than her friend's dad's old pants for the holiday season!

Here are some close-up images of the tops:

As I explained in Mia (2013), nothing she is wearing here bears any animal paw prints.

Note the flower design on the sand green top is also found on the lavender cami.