From Superheroes to Fairies, Mermaids to Pirates, Mini-dolls are more versatile than they often get credit for. When The Brothers Brick asked me to take a look at the Summer wave of LEGO Friends sets, I found all kinds of new and uncommon mini-doll parts to use as seed pieces for some fantastical scenes!
Most of the Summer sets revolve around the core Friends group of Autumn, Ollie, Liann, Nova, Leo, Aliya, and Zac (with Paisley being oddly sidelined to just one set). While 6 different skin tones represented across 8 characters is great for diversity, it makes interchangeability a challenge. But I love a challenge, that’s part of why I customize mini-dolls in the first place!
Hi! I’m Llano, AKA @femmefromtheblock on Instagram. Last May, Pirates was one of the prompts for @FriendsBASH, a new custom mini-doll challenge I hosted, and I host pirate challenge @WeArrrFamily every September, so obviously I had to sift through the mini-doll pieces in all the new Friends sets to find anything nautical and piratical!
Avast ye, scurvy dogs! A pair of pirates hold two unlucky sailors at sword and gun point.
The first treasure I dug out was a new blue striped and bandana-print shirt for Ollie in set 42704 Heartlake City Grand Hotel. The set includes another male character with the same warm tan skin tone, Petch, whose head I used.
LEGO Friends 42704 Heartlake City Grand Hotel | 1,406 Pieces |US $149.99 | CAN $209.99 | UK £139.99
I put together a pirate captain using Nova’s nougat-color head which appears in most sets of this wave. I used legs from Aliya in set 42705 Cozy Fall Forest Cabin. With their white leggings, I appreciate the legs not being tied to any specific skin tone. The shortened arm comes from Autumn, the Friends character with a limb difference (she was born that way, but the amputated-look works well for a pirate). It first appeared in dark green in the 2023 Friends Advent Calendar, and now it’s in the Forest Cabin set. Every other appearance has been in light nougat, so it’s nice to have a limb difference option that works with other skin tones!
LEGO Friends 42705 Cozy Fall Forest Cabin | 1,229 Pieces |US $109.99 | CAN $154.99 | UK £89.99
To get the captain’s other arm outstretched with a flintlock pistol, I used a technique I recently discovered by wedging a mini-doll arm into a 1×2 grate piece attached with a neck bracket. The tattered cape both holds everything in place and helps disguise what’s going on.
LEGO keeps introducing new mini-doll leg molds and the flared pants are some of my favorites. They come in dark blue in several sets this wave, including 42682 Nature Glamping Cabin. The navy color made me think of sailors, perfect for a pair of pirate victims! Since mini-doll heads aren’t double sided, LEGO occasionally includes an alternate expression on a separate head like the “scared” look on the reddish brown head I used.
LEGO Friends 42682 Nature Glamping Cabin | 295Pieces |US $24.99 | CAN $34.99 | UK £19.99
The expression on the light nougat head reads more as “nervous” which is a welcome addition included for Autumn in set 42703 Mermaid Roller Coaster Ride. The red scarves are a recent mini-doll-specific accessory not included in many sets yet. It comes in the Glamping Cabin set, and you even get a spare! It also comes in light yellow and I hope LEGO keeps giving us recolors. Not only does the scarf complete the sailor uniform, it covers a contrasting skin tone, allowing this striped torso with a light nougat neck to work for the reddish brown head by swapping the arms!
LEGO Friends 42703 Mermaid Roller Coaster Ride | 864 Pieces |US $109.99 | CAN $154.99 | UK £89.99
If we dive below the pirate-infested waters, we’ll discover an undersea mermaid kingdom! Unlike minifigure mermaids, mini-doll tails are articulated, allowing for swimming poses or sitting in a throne. This summer’s Mermaid Roller Coaster introduces two new Friends characters, Serena and Azurea. In-universe, they are entertainers in mermaid costumes, a clever way to bring fantasy characters to the grounded world of Heartlake City.
A deep sea diver makes contact with a mermaid queen and her cove full of merfolk and marine life.
You’ll find enough lovely and rare pieces used as decorative coral formations in the Roller Coaster set to add color and whimsy to any underwater scene. You get the new willow leaf piece in satin trans bright green for the first time and a new rock piece in satin trans purple, though the bottom of the rock piece only comes in set 42693 Creative Flower Shop. The coral piece in dark orange and Ninjago/Gambit power blast piece in light yellow each make their second appearance after being introduced in set 10366 Tropical Aquarium! This is also the second time we’ve gotten the marine life accessory pack in neon yellow which pops nicely!
LEGO Friends 42693 Creative Flower Shop | 377 Pieces |US $29.99 | CAN $42.99 | UK £24.99
Our first mini-doll mermaid tails in lavender and the new warm pink come in the Roller Coaster with intricate metallic printing and dual molding to give the fins a satin finish! My mermaid queen mini-doll uses the first hair piece in the new blue violet color found in set 42702 Spinning Flower & Fairy Teacup Ride. The torso with metallic blue shell printing used on my tentacled mermaid also comes from the Roller Coaster. Her head and hair are from Astrid from the Grand Hotel set, our first time getting the Glinda hair in light yellow! The merman uses Leo’s standard medium nougat head, and the diver uses Liann’s warm tan head, both included in many sets this wave like the Roller Coaster.
Continuing the colorful fantasy scenes, I had to make some custom fairy mini-dolls using the new wing piece! Ever since 2017’s DC Super Hero Girls sets, we’ve been getting mini-doll wings in plastic film material. The Fairy Teacup Ride introduces a new hard plastic mold in satin trans dark pink! You’ll also find it this Summer in Gabby’s Dollhouse set 11214 Fairy Roller Coaster and Tea Party in satin trans light blue!
LEGO Friends 42702 Spinning Flower & Fairy Teacup Ride | 321 Pieces |US $39.99 | CAN $54.99 | UK £34.99
Tea time! An acorn and berry are served at fairy tea for their very special squirrel friend.
My Fairy Queen uses Aliya’s head and lovely new floral torso which appears in 3 different sets across this summer wave, including the Teacup Ride. Her white skirt appears in the Grand Hotel set, as Astrid’s gorgeous wedding dress. The other fairy uses the pink hair and flower head accessory from the Teacup Ride, Autumn’s head which appears throughout the wave, and a new torso for Astrid from the Creative Flower Shop.
Although formal gowns have appeared throughout the Friends theme, suits and ties are less common. The Heartlake City Grand Hotel gives us a dark azure groom’s suit for Petch, and a dark purple suit for the concierge, Valentine! The purple suit gives Joker vibes, but gave me the idea to make more niche DC villains, The Terrible Trio! The colorful suits (along with Fiyero from Wicked’s blazer torso) and some animal masks make for great mini-dolls of the Shark, the Vulture, and the Fox.
LEGO Friends 42700 Candy & Cupcake Ferris Wheel | 602 Pieces |US $59.99 | CAN $84.99 | UK £54.99
The Terrible Trio terrorize a pizzeria! Batgirl takes out the Shark with a deftly thrown batarang. BAM!
The poor Pizzeria employee uses an alternate “scared” head for Liann included in set 42700 Candy & Cupcake Ferris Wheel and the torso from set 42694 Pizza Truck. The new pizza box print and menu sticker come from that set too and inspired my pink and red checkered build.
LEGO Friends 42694 Pizza Truck | 190 Pieces |US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £12.99
Even though she relies mostly on 2017’s DC Super Hero Girls pieces, I had to include an updated Batgirl custom to complete the scene!
What do you think of the custom mini-dolls and scenes I created taking inspiration from the Summer wave of Friends sets? I included what parts I used from the new sets, but leave a comment or DM @femmefromtheblock if you have questions on other parts used!
Thank YOU for taking a look, thank you to The Brothers Brick for inviting me to write this article, and to LEGO for supplying the sets! I hope next time you see LEGO mini-dolls, you look at them a little differently and see the possibility of creating something unique with them.
The post Turning LEGO Friends into Pirates, Fairies, and Superheroes [Feature] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.
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