I planned to start the new year with a set review, but winter has finally come to Antalya and the constant rain prevented me from leaving the house. While I was thinking about what I’ll get, I came up with an idea for this week’s article: Minidolls! Followed by a flow of ideas, I realized some things I haven’t before. That’s why today’s article is all about minifigures and minidolls.
I keep mentioning it, but it took me a long while to get warmed up to minidolls. Before they had their 10-year anniversary, I started to see certain characteristics, but my viewpoint changed completely when the theme was re-made and Autumn was introduced. I started noticing some things I never did before, or, to be honest, didn’t care about even if I noticed them.
Before I started showing interest in the theme, animals were my favorite part of them. Many species were first released with Friends sets, and some still haven’t jumped to minifigure-scaled sets. This has been changing more and more lately, but still, Friends are always one step ahead.
My appreciation isn’t only limited to animals, though. If I decided to build a city, I’d definitely start with Friends sets. When I compare them with City sets, I think they’re better in terms of design and variety. I don’t know much about the previous ones, but starting from 2023, I really find Friends sets successful.
After I came up with the idea of writing about minidolls, these thoughts crossed my mind. And then, I realized what may be their biggest disadvantage.
The LEGO Minifigure and Minidoll
I’ll continue with two examples from 2023, 60380 Downtown and 41732 Downtown Flower and Design Stores. They’re from City and Friends themes, and even their names are the same. The City set has 14 minifigures, the Friends set has 7 minidolls. I take a look at the minifigures, and they’re named veterinarian, receptionist, barber, chef, tourist, boy… I look at the minidolls and see the names Liann, Olly, Fiona, Riley, Aida… each have their own names, meaning they represent a specific person. Then I look at my own collection, two Leos, three Lianns, one Autumn. Among my minifigures are two chefs, one barber, five firefighters. In another box, I have three Harry Potters, one Indiana Jones, two Luke Skywalkers.
For me, one of the best things about minifigures is the ability to change their parts. Don’t we do that while making our own sigfig? I like this face, I’ll use it. Ooooh, this leg piece is awesome! Hey, that torso fits me pretty well. I’ll use that hair piece, it’s similar to mine. This is easy with minifigures, especially with yellow-skinned, unlicensed ones. I have so many spare heads, all with different expressions, to show a specific emotion when I take pictures. Some belong to female minifigures, some belong to male ones, but without any indication of gender.
Then I look at minidolls. They also have interchangeable parts, up to a certain point. I mean, you can’t take off their arms or hands like minifigures, but you can change their hair, heads, torsos and legs… or can you? Well, within the same character, you can. Take Leo, for example, he has a darker skin color. I can’t use Olly’s torso with his head. The legs are okay, as long as the character’s legs aren’t showing. Same’s true for the girls, too. Aliyah, from the new characters, is dark-skinned, while Autumn’s skin color is lighter. But I like Aliyah’s outfit and want to use it on Autumn to create my sigfig. I can’t. Dark-skinned arms and legs don’t go well with light-skinned heads.
Inclusivity and Diversity
On the other hand, Friends minidolls are no doubt more successful when it comes the inclusivity and diversity. While we don’t have a lot of skin-color differences in our society, they represent this diverseness very well. And not just that, either, there are minidolls representing physically different people, too.
Autumn has a limb difference; she was released in 2023. This year’s CMF 27 has a similar minifigure.
Savannah is vision impaired. The first minifigure I know who was also vision impaired was released with 60292 Town Centre. Both were released in 2021. Last year’s 21353 The Botanical Garden set has another vision impaired minifigure, this time without glasses.
Peg legs have existed since the Pirates theme, but they arrived in City sets more recently. After the first minifigure with a prosthetic leg, released in 2022, we got three more just like him. There’s also an athlete that came with the CMF 25 series, with two prosthetic legs. On the other hand, there’s only one minidoll with a prosthetic leg, a boy called Petch.
The wheelchair first appeared in City sets in 2016. There are two different versions of it. Since minidolls can’t use the same wheelchair as the minifigures, they had brick-built ones at first. In 2023, they got their own wheelchairs as well. Apart from these, there’s also a special wheelchair, coming with the racer from the CMF 22 series.
The first hearing impaired minifigure was released in 2020, a woman with a hearing aid. There are other minifigures using similar devices, with different face prints. 2024 introduced us to two minifigures with cochlear implants. Luiz was also released in 2024, a minidoll that has a cochlear implant. I wasn’t able to find any minidolls with hearing aids.
We had our first minifigure with Vitiligo in 2022. Jordin followed her in 2023, a minidoll with the same condition. Mateo from Dreamzz also shows signs of Vitiligo. Finally, a head part with a different skin color was released in 10391 Over the Moon with Pharrel Williams.
Sara is the only LEGO figure that carries an ostomy collection bag. Even though it doesn’t affect her appearance, Hanna has endocrine dysfunction and comes with an accessory to show it: A phone with a continuous glucose monitor on its screen. Fiona is the first (and so far, only) LEGO figure with Down Syndrome. Kaya has mismatched eyes. At the moment, there are no minifigures with these characteristics.
The newest of these special conditions are from 2025. This was something I have never heard before, something called Sunflower Lanyard. It indicates hidden disabilities, like a fear of getting on a plane, or anxiety in crowded places. New and unreleased sets of 2025 have figures wearing – or not wearing – the Sunflower Lanyard; minifigures, minidolls, and even DUPLO figures. It’s also possible to have the Sunflower Lanyard printed in stores with Minifigure Factories.
Long story short…
As a photographer, I don’t like the limitations of minidolls, I can’t pose them the way I want. As an older AFOL, I can’t love minidolls as much as I love minifigures. As an overweight woman, I dislike minidolls’ Barbie-like bodies, it makes it impossible for me to identify myself as one of them. Not being able to customize minidolls as I like, exchanging their parts, having to stay within the limitations the LEGO Group has put disturbs me. Still, I think minidolls will be the face of the LEGO Group 50 years from now. For people like me, they will probably never be the same as minifigures. On the other hand, there won’t be many people like me in 50 years’ time. Besides, who knows, there may be a significant design change in minidolls, and they’ll be able to conserve their diversity while having the plus sides the minifigures have. They’ll be the best of both worlds.
It’s the LEGO Group we’re talking about. You’ll never know what they’re up to :)
That’s it for today, see you in the next post!
Most of the images are from Brickset, Bricklink, Rebrickable and the official page of the LEGO Group. If I used an offensive term, please forgive me, it’s because of my ignorance. If there’s something I missed, let me know so I can add it, too.
Some girls play with Barbie dolls, while others create small worlds with LEGO minifigures and continue to do so when they grow up. You can probably guess which group I belong to :)
