Autumn isn’t LEGO Friends’ first depiction of limb difference

October 29, 2022 | 12

When LEGO announced the Friends 2023 reboot, one of the new characters that caught everyone’s attention is Autumn, one of the new Friends main characters (who is also Mia’s daughter) and is also the first minidoll with a limb difference.

Autumn, and the rest of the new LEGO Friends characters will make their debut in new Friends sets in January 2023, as well as a new cartoon series in February 2023, and we’re also promised new skin tones, cultures, physical and non-visible disabilities and neurodiversity throughout the sets and cartoon.

Autumn is a huge move from LEGO to further incorporate representation and inclusion, and there was also a toiching article in the BBC where a disabled girl, Sofia who is 8 and loves LEGO talks about what it means to finally be represented as a minidoll.

Sofia wrote a letter to LEGO asking for better representation in their toys, and Fenella Charity, design director at Lego Friends mentioned that she and her team were inspired by Sofia’s letter.

The new 2023 Friends reboot has been 2 years in the making, but did you know that the LEGO Marketing team were subtly incorporating more representation into their marketing materials in the meantime?

It’s really poignant, and I think many people might have missed it, but a girl with a limb-difference was depicted in the lifestyle photos of 41682 Heartlake City School, which was released back in June 2021.

As the new Friends theme was in development for over 2 years, it seems like this was a subtle nod towards what fans could expect from Heartlake City in 2023.

That said, this isn’t the only instance of this, as LEGO have had a really strong track-record of ensuring that diverse people are represented across their marketing.

This LEGO Minecraft advert for example, features a child with Vitiligo.

Of course, the upcoming 21337 Table Football set which will be released on 1 November 2022, is also notable for featuring the first LEGO minifigure with vitiligo.

If you’d like a more comprehensive study and analysis of LEGO’s use of lifestyle imagery, and marketing to improve representation and inclusiveness, be sure to check out The Rambling Brick’s 2021 piece on this – this post was born out of a conversation that we had on the latest episode of our Extra Pieces podcast, where we discuss the 2023 LEGO Friends reboot.

To learn more about the new LEGO Friends 2023 relaunch, check out the announcement post, which also has a preview of some of the new sets coming in January 2023.

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