My four year old daughter loves Lego indiscriminately. City, Pirates, Castle, Police, Bionicle, it doesn’t matter. She’ll build barns for horses then dungeon mazes with death traps. Spongebob has a lightsaber, and all kinds of chaos is going on down on the floor.
So when Friends hit the market, my wife and I were both very interested in seeing what her reaction would be.
She was as excited for the new Friends set at about the same level as she gets excited for any set. Which is to say, very. She built the set, played with the girl, and then an hour later, the girl was on a computer laden spaceship going to the moon…
She didn’t really care about the girliness, she didn’t notice, or comment or change the way she plays. Anecdotal, sure, but that’s what happened.
I’m for anything that attracts more children to imaginative, constructive play. Is the Friends line an overall financially smart move for Lego, probably not. Will it bring a few more kids into the fold, probably.