We really are better together, and what a great way to wrap up the diverse minifigures series. Originally this article was going to be about the two male minidolls in the Friends Main Street Building (41704) set. When the set arrived, I started to look more closely at it. What an amazingly diverse set! So I decided that the final article in the diverse minifigures series would feature all the minidolls from this set. Interestingly, they are all unique to this set too.
2SLGBTQIA+ Family
LEGO® does not explicitly label their minifigures or minidolls as being a family unit. But we have seen multiple iterations of sets titled “Family House”, and they all feature an adult male and female character. There have also been many images on box art of many, many sets of what appears to be a heterosexual couple, often with children.
When the Friends Main Street Building set was first announced, I noticed the box art showed photos of a male couple with a child. Not only did the images suggest they were a gay couple, but also a family of different skin colours. How awesome! Trevor has reddish brown skin, Joshua has light nougat skin, and little Maya (a microdoll) has medium nougat skin. What a beautiful family! Trevor is wearing a very fashionable white shirt with lime swirls accentuated with a coral scarf and black pants. Joshua is wearing a green sweater jacket over a yellow shirt with blue pants. Maya is dressed in an adorable medium azure dress with a sun and cloud image.
Visually Impaired
This set also comes with Savannah, a visually impaired person with dark glasses, a probing cane, and a service dog. We first saw Savannah in the Heartlake City Vet Clinic (41446) released in March of 2021. She then appeared in Forest Horseback Riding Center (41683) in June 2021. However, she was not the first visually impaired character. The first release of sets in January of 2021, included a blind male minifigure in the City Town Centre (60292) set. Similar to Savannah, he also came with a guide dog. However, his dog came with a harness. Savannah has changed out of her horse-riding gear and is dressed in a fashionable outfit with a sand green skirt, blue blouse with flowers, and a hip wide brimmed magenta hat. Savannah has nougat skin, and joins Trevor and Maya, as the characters representing people with a variety of skin tones.
Brick Built Wheelchair
Harper, a new character, makes her Friends debut in this set. As someone with long hair who likes baseball caps, I love when LEGO® includes the hat-hair combo molds in sets. Harper has light nougat skin and her dark red hair sticks out of her light pink ball cap in a ponytail. She is dressed casually in a striped sleeveless top with orange shorts. Harper also comes with a brick-built wheelchair. It’s great to have a wheelchair user included in a Friends set, especially a set unrelated to health care. However, the wheelchair feels more institutional than the new wheelchair mold found in other LEGO® themes. Hopefully LEGO® will work on creating a Friends-friendly wheelchair mold as well.
Hip Older Adult
This set also includes Dottie, a hip older adult with light nougat skin and grey hair. This is the second version of Dottie in the Friends theme. We first saw her in Drifting Diner (41349) back in 2018. She had the coolest hair in that set! Dottie was the first representation of an older adult in the Friends line. She was followed by Marcel, who we introduced in an earlier diverse minifigures series article. I was really excited to get Dottie in this set as I missed out on the Drifting Diner set and I really liked her outfit and hair. While her hairstyle is different in this set, her outfit is just as hip. She is wearing awesome red shoes and matching red glasses. She has a fashionable red shirt with cherries on it and blue pants.
Fashion Forward
Since better together is the topic of this diverse minifigures series article, I wouldn’t want to leave out the last two characters from this set. Like the other characters in this set, Evelyn and Stephanie both appear to be quite fashionable. Evelyn has cool dark azure hair in a funky style. She is wearing a sand blue frilly skirt and white tank top with lightning bolts. I am really impressed that Evelyn is skilled enough to ride her skateboard in a skirt! Stephanie has a silver vest over a magenta top and matching skirt. Similar to Harper, she also has a combo hair-hat combo mold. But instead of a hat, Stephanie has a toque. Both characters have light nougat skin.
The Diverse Minifigures Series Comes to a Close
LEGO® has taken a very gradual approach towards increasing representation in their sets. Although LEGO® has hidden behind their argument that yellow minifigures represent everyone, they have increasingly shown that this isn’t the case and that it is important to include diverse characters in their sets. The Friends Main Street Building shows how diversity and inclusion can bring us all together. Being better together represents the culmination of the diverse minifigures series. Which diverse minifigures series article was your favourite? Are there any minifigures that we didn’t cover? Respond below or share your thoughts with us on social media. We’d love to hear form you!
Play well folks,
-Krista (she/her)
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