Mini-doll legs 4: capris

Female, Hip W/ Shorts 1 is the mold used for Mia's basic legs.

2012



Olivia and Stephanie have also borrowed Mia's favorite pants. The white pair for dark-skinned girls has been worn by Andrea, Ella, Joanna and Kate in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

2013






The white pair on the left is exclusive to Emma's karate outfit.

The magenta pair was first used by Joanna in Heartlake Pet Salon. Andrea borrowed it in 2014 when she visited her mountain hut.

The navy blue pair shown in the middle was designed for Stephanie's soccer practice, but because of its unisex appearance, it gained popularity among boys as well as girls. Stephanie, Olivia and Mia have been seen in it before, and the boys who have worn it are Andrew, Julian, and Noah. Later this year, Ben will make his first appearance in it as well.

No new design was made for 2014, but four of the above five are found in some of the sets from that year.

2015




In 2015, Farran from the new Elves theme came with dark green pants and brown shoes. I find the color combination perfect for the earth elf. Since it is a versatile design, hopefully it will also be used by Friends characters in the future.

In the first half year of 2016, three new designs were added for Joy, Farran and Tidus. The official piece images are not currently available.

Here is a photo I took of all the mini-dolls with this type of legs.



As I pointed out in my post on the long pants, the older version of the capri legs was also molded in the color of the pants alone, and then the part below the pants were painted afterwards.

On the other hand, the newer version has been molded in two different colors: the top 2/3 in the color of the pants and the bottom 1/3 in the color of the calves/boots.



Later this year, we are getting Beast in new black capris in 41067 Belle's Enchanted Castle. It will be the first time this mold will get used in the Disney Princess theme.

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.

Ms. Stevens (2013)

Ms. Stevens is a science teacher at Heartlake High. Her first name is Maggie according to DK's LEGO Friends Character Encyclopedia.






41005 Heartlake High

Ms. Stevens mini-doll consists of the same molded parts as Olivia's mother Anna. Their silhouettes are identical, but the difference in colors and print details gives each of them a distinct personality.


Ms. Stevens is the only mini-doll with a pair of glasses painted on the face. The orange beige lipstick she wears is also rare among the mini-dolls. Ms. Stevens' make-up is simple and subtle compared to Anna's vintage glam style.


Ms. Stevens has the mature female torso like Anna. So far there have been only four characters who have that type of upper body: Anna, Ms. Stevens, Charlotte (Emma's mother), and Susan (Andrea's aunt).

In the above photo, we can see that young Mia is not quite fully developed yet like the two ladies. She will probably have to wait about 20 years before she gets that mature look.

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.

Mini-dolls with Olivia's face design (2013)

In 2013, a few new face print designs were added, and that means we got less of those secondary mini-dolls sharing the facial features with the main characters.

Andrea's face design became exclusively hers after the brown-eyed Kate/Joanna print was introduced.

Emma's face was reused only once in 2013, on Isabella as shown in my post about her and Christina.

Mia's face was never used on anyone else until Naya appeared in 2014.

Interestingly, Stephanie's face, which is by far the most frequently used print, was not found on any characters but herself in 2013.

Meanwhile, Olivia's face was used on two additional characters.





Danielle: 41006 Downtown Bakery
Lily: 41016 Advent Calendar

Danielle's flowery lavender top is rather special; it's been used only on one other occasion, in 41039 Sunshine Ranch. Her legs are a familiar piece typically found on Emma. It suits the top perfectly.

Lily's torso is exclusive to the second advent calendar. I look forward to each advent calendar precisely because we get at least one exclusive long-sleeved top like this one. While her legs are not too common, this event-specific piece has appeared in the first three advent calendars.

Lily's ponytail is a raven version of Mia's hairstyle, previously seen on Nicole in 3184 Adventure Camper. This piece also appeared as a wig on display in 2012, once in the advent calendar and the other time in 3187 Butterfly Beauty Shop.

Mini-doll legs 2: A-line mini-skirts

Female, Hip w/ Skirt 2 is the mold used for Olivia's basic purple skirt.


2012



The pink skirt piece in the middle appeared only in sets from 2012, and sadly, it is no longer produced. The red one on the right has been included only in three of the advent calendars.

2013




These two designs have been used quite regularly, appearing four years in a row between 2013 and 2016.

2014



These two have also been frequently used. The gray skirt on the left has been present between 2014 and 2016. The Sand Green skirt has not been found so far in the 2016 collection.

2015



Here is another piece designed for an advent calendar.

2016

Although not available yet, there will be two more designs to be added in the second half year.

Below you will see a collection of all the mini-dolls with "Hip W/ Skirt 2" leg mold. Duplicates of the same mini-doll are not included.



There is only one Andrea mini-doll here while there are multiple versions of the other four Friends. It is because this mold has not been used yet on a design specifically for dark-skinned legs.

That will change later this year. Andrea will be getting a skirt in Medium Azure which she will wear in 41130  Amusement Park Roller Coaster as well as in 41124 Heartlake Puppy Daycare.

Boys (2013)

The boys were finally added to the mini-doll population in the second wave of 2013.

Before they joined Peter, the male/female ratio in Heartlake City was 1:18. That wouldn't be a very exciting place to live in if you ask me.

The situation had to be corrected fast, so there came not just one but two males in the same wave!

By the end of 2013, there were 3 males and 22 females in Heartlake City.




Andrew: 41015 Dolphin Cruiser
Matthew: 41005 Heartlake High

As I have discussed often before, the boys' head mold appears to be identical to the girls'. But LEGO had to invest in a brand new mold to make the boys' torso.

It would have been more cost-effective to produce boy mini-dolls using Peter's torso mold.
But that brawny body would not have looked quite right when combined with the boy head.

Both Andrew and Matthew wear the side swept minifigure wigs. The hairstyle looks perfect on those two boys as if it had been designed especially for them.

They both have a polo shirt on, but interestingly, the designs are different.

No new legs were designed for the boys. Matthew got Peter's legs, and Andrew got Stephanie's soccer pants legs!

Since their introduction, two or more boys have appeared every year.

Kate & Joanna (2013)

When LEGO Friends was launched in 2012, there was only a limited selection of mini-doll parts. The mini-doll faces were no exception, and we pretty much had the bare minimum in variety: the faces for the five Friends and Olivia's parents.

That means all the secondary characters from that year (except Olivia's parents) got the same face print as Andrea, Emma, Olivia or Stephanie, as I discussed in a few of my earlier posts.

As a result, there were five different characters with dark skin and green eyes including Andrea. 

I'm sure I was not the only one at that point who wished there were some dark-skinned girls with brown eyes.

So, Kate and Joanna were a most welcome addition in early 2013; finally we got dark-skinned girls who didn't look like slightly different versions of Andrea!




Kate: 41000 Water Scooter Fun
Joanna: 41007 Heartlake Pet Salon

Kate's hair is the black version of Olivia's wig, previously seen on Ella from Summer Riding Camp. Since Olivia's wig is a bid overused on secondary characters, Kate's hairstyle doesn't really stand out among the crowd unlike Joanna's.

All the remaining parts of Kate were brand new in 2013. The shorts were new, and they were produced in two different colors for the dark-skinned mini-dolls. This version in Medium Azur has not been used in any other set so far. The bikini top was exclusive at the time, but reappeared in 2014.

Joanna's wig was newly designed, and there have been only two characters so far who have worn their hair in this exact style: Joanna and Emily Jones from the Elves theme.

Joanna's top is exclusive to this mini-doll. Her leg piece is not very common, either; they have been used on Andrea on one occasion only.

The printed details of their torsos are quite nice. Kate even has a belly button!


Since both of them have made more than one appearance, I will feature each of them individually some time in the future.

Mini-doll legs 1: layered mini-skirts

Female, Hip with Skirt 1 was used on three of the five Friends girls' signature outfit: Andrea's, Emma's and Stephanie's. It is one of the leg parts with the most color & print variations.


2012











2013

The ones on the left and in the center below have appeared only once so far.




No new color & print for this mold was seen in 2014.


2015

The Pop Star sub-theme brought us the rare silver and gold skirts!





2016

The medium azure skirt with matching shoes was added to the collection in January.

Here's a photo of all the mini-dolls with this leg mold in my collection. Duplicates of the same mini-doll are not included.



Stephanie's basic magenta skirt is the most common piece. While it is very cute, it's been used a little too frequently in my opinion.